Beef & ale slice pie

Ingredients

Instructions

1. Chop the onion, carrot and celery into the same sized pieces. Season the steak generously with salt and pepper and toss in the plain flour so that each piece is evenly coated.
2. Pour a splash of oil into a large saucepan/casserole dish. Over a high heat, fry the steak in batches until evenly browned. Remove onto a plate.
3. Turn down the heat, don’t worry about the pan bottom being brown this is all flavour! Tip in the onion, carrot and celery into the pan. Cook, stirring for
   5 minutes until softened then pour in the ale and stock. Stir in the thyme and brown sauce. Scrape the meat back into the pan, Simmer gently on a low heat, uncovered for
   2½ hours until you have a very thick pie filling. If the gravy is too thin, remove the meat then bubble the sauce down. Leave to cool - you can do this day before if you want.
4. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan.
5. Pie time. Unravel your first sheet of shortcrust pastry with its paper onto a baking tray. Spread with the mustard then spoon in your filling keeping a 2 cm border free around the edge. Smooth the filling over then brush the border with the beaten egg. Place your second shortcrust pastry sheet on top (roll it out first to make sure it fits with enough overlap.
6. Press the two sheets of pastry together around the edge, cut off any messy bits then press down along all the edges with a fork to create a seal.
7. Score the top with a cutlery knife. Don’t press the knife in too far as you don’t want to cut the pastry open. Bake in the oven for
   30 mins until deep golden brown.
8. Slice and serve with a dollop of brown sauce, or mustard, or both if you are a maverick.

Nutrition