Steak and mushroom pie recipe

Steak and Mushroom Pie recipe

This article was published by: Matthew

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♼ Recipe origin is unknown. Steak and mushroom pie recipe, recipe Rating: 4.6
Number of votes:95 

Ingredients

500 g	diced steak (remove excess fat, if any)
1 tbsp	oil
1 tbsp	flour (approx)
1 large	onion, chopped or medium diced
2 medium	carrots, diced
1 stick(s)	celery, diced
250 g	mushrooms, small closed cap or larger open capped, or mixed mushrooms to weight
½ bottle(s)	red wine (approx) or
1 large can(s)	400-500ml dark ale (approx) or a bottle of equivalent size
1	bay leaf
	salt, to taste
	freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 pack(s)	ready made puff pasty (preferred), or shortcrust pastry, defrosted if bought frozen
1 medium	egg
1	splash milk

Instructions

If you wish to make your own pastry, choose a favourite recipe, but I choose not to make puff pastry as it can be a little difficult to make sometimes, and the ready-made variety is quite good and extremely convenient.

Clean the mushrooms with a brush and remove any discoloured stalk ends. If the mushrooms are small, they can be used whole but if larger cut into halves or quarters lengthwise or cut into chunks. Portobello, chantarelle, shiitake and oyster mushrooms can be used if available.

Heat a heavy-bottomed saucepan until hot and carefully add a little oil. Reduce heat. Add several pieces of steak and brown on all sides, turning as necessary. Remove the browned meat and set aside on a dish. Repeat for the remaining steak pieces.

Return the browned meat to the pan and add the flour. Toss the meat in the flour for 2-3 minutes to cook out. Empty the meat onto a dish and set aside again, together with all remaining oil and meat juices, while the next process is proceeding. Wipe the pan with a sheet or two of kitchen towel, if desired.

Pour about a tablespoon or so of fresh oil into the pan heat until smoking. Reduce heat and fry the onion until lightly browned. Add the carrot and celery and cook for a few minutes until glazed and the celery is translucent. Try not to burn the vegetables as it affects the flavour. Add the browned meat and all the juices remaining on the dish. Add the bay leaf, wine or ale with a little salt and bring to a slow boil. Reduce the heat and simmer fully covered until the meat is soft. Add the mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and cook for a 2-3 minutes further, unless using the cheat’s method below. Do not allow the filling to dry out. If it shows signs of becoming dry and needing a more liquid, add a little hot water or add a little more wine or ale. Adjust seasoning if required.

Heat the oven to Gas Mark 5, 109C, 375F or, if the pastry manufacturer recommends a different temperature, use their recommendation.

Personally, I would bake and serve this in individual, 3-4 inch 7-10cm deep ceramic pie dishes about 5 inches, 12-13cm in diameter or oval ones about 4×6 inches, 10x15cm, if available. Otherwise use a deep 8-9 inch, 20-23cm circular or 7×10 inch, 17x25cm or a little larger oval pie dish.

If making individual pies, roll out the sheet of pastry to about 12-14 inch, 30-35cm square and cut into quarters. If making a single pie, roll out pastry to a 12 inch, 30cm square.

Discard the bay leaf when you can find it. Proportion the pie filling between the individual pie dishes or spoon the meat and vegetables into the single pie dish, adding as much of the liquid content as possible to almost fill the dish; do not overfill with liquid as it can overflow during baking. Moisten edge of pie dish with a little cold water and quickly cover with pastry, pressing the pastry onto the rim of the dish. Make a small steam hole with a knife in the centre of each pie. Trim pastry around shape of dish with a sharp knife. If you wish, you can use the trimmings to make decorations for the pies. Lightly press trimmimgs togerther and roll out to 2-3mm, about 1/8 inch thick and using a sharp knife, cut out 8 small leaf shapes, two for each individual pie or 4 larger ones for a single pie, and place on the pastry topping without covering the steam hole. Make a glaze by beating the egg into a little milk in a small bowl and brush over the entire pie topping. Repeat glaze for a better finish.

Place the pie(s) on a baking tray to catch any overflow; you may need to use oven gloves as the dish(es) can be quite warm, and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown, or use the baking time recommended by the pastry maker, should they suggest one.

A cheat’s method is to cut out the topping(s) for the pie(s) using the upturned pie dish before adding the filling, and to make the topping a little larger as it will shrink during baking. Glaze the topping as before and bake on an oven tray until golden brown. With the filling still simmering in the pan, fill the pie dish(as before) and, remove the topping(s) from the oven. Using a cake server or fish slice, carefully lift the toppings and position carefully on the filled pie dishes. Serve immediately as below.

Serve individual pies in their dishes on a small plate and provide a spoon, with boiled and buttered new potatoes and vegetables of choice on a dinner plate. It is traditional for the pastry topping on individual pies to be lifted with a knife before serving and set slightly offset to the pie dish. It is also traditional for the diner to transfer quantities of the pie to his dinner plate using the spoon provided, as and when required. Cut the single pie into four (or six) and serve a portion of the filling with a section of the topping on a plate with the same vegetables.

This can be sufficient to feed 6 if making a single, large pie; it does rather depend upon the hunger (or greed) of your family of guests.

Preparation time:
ca. 1 hr
Grade of difficulty:
easy
Calories per portion:
n/a