Steak and Ale Pie

Ok so I just made the filling today. I will do the pie part tomorrow.

Go buy yourself some nice stewing steak, carrots, celery, shallots, garlic and a can of beer.

Then you need to cut up your steak into medium size pieces. Try to remove the really stringy fatty pieces but leave the rest because it adds to the flavour.

Heat up some oil in a frying pan or wok (a small puddle).

Now you need to dip a handful of your meat into a bowl of flour before dropping it in the pan with a shallot and half a clove of garlic.

Once the meat is brown, remove it from the pan and place in a deep saucepan with chopped carrots and celery. Repeat the procedure until all the meat is done.

Time for a break.

If you have any celery left you can make yourself a moustache and scare people in your house. BTW notice I am still in my dressing gown. A real chef starts cooking as soon as he gets up in the morning.

1/ Wake Up
2/ Wash/ Have breakfast
3/ Make a pie Twisted Evil

Back to the pie!

Now you need the most important ingredient for this delicious, nutricious recipe....

BEER

Now chaps. Grab your holy drink of the gods and pour it over your meaty pan of wonder.

Nice and slow now. Don't spill any for goodness sake!

The most important part is done now. Relax...

You will need to add some beef stock (those cube things to make a sauce mixed with boiling water) so that the beef is just sticking up above it.

OOPs. That was a sideways shot. Nevermind.

Now put the hob, hotplate, whatever you use on a low heat. Cover your saucepan and cook for around 2 hours. Lift the lid up now and then and give it a stir to stop it sticking on the bottom of the pan.

After 2 hours it should look something like this. You don't want it too saucy or it will go every where when you later cook the pie.

Hmmmm smells good no?

Try a little sauce with a teaspoon and add salt and pepper if you think it is needed.

Now let that cool down and pat your self on the back.

I will continue with the pastry part in te next day or two...

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OK.

Here is the second part to my nice Steak and Ale pie.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (gas mark 4 or 5)

For the pastry you need to use what we call "puff pastry" or "pâte feuilletée" in French or "Blätterteig" in German (no idea what it is called in Swedish).

It is pretty tricky to make yourself so I suggest buying 2 ready made ones. They don't cost much in France (€0.48 each).

So... This pastry stuff is damn nice so make sure you guard it at all times or someone might come and steal it. I like to guard mine with my son. He has quick reflexes and is a crack shot so if I miss with my shotty, he'll clean up nicely with his magnum.

Now go find yourself a nice pie dish.
It should be just big enough to hold all your mix.
Don't worry if it is a little small as a small heap in the middle is no problem.
This is far better than having a dish that is too big.
Rub the inside of the dish with butter to stop your pie sticking.

Now if your pastry is already rolled out, just pop it in the dish like this. If it comes in a square you will need to roll it out a little so it hangs just a little over the edges of the dish (see picture).

Now plop all your manly meaty mixture in this pastry basket of love.

You will need to find an egg now. These are the things that hens lay. They are surprisingly egg shaped and taste of eggs. This is what one looks like...

Now break the shell and empty the contents into a bowl before mixing it up with a fork. Grab a brush and brush all around the edge of your pie. This will be like a glue to stop the lid seperating during the cooking. Save any egg that is left in the bowl.

The next stage is the lid preparation. Again, roll out your 2nd pastry if you need to. Lay the pastry out on a worktop (preferably marble init Twisted Evil

) and score it (lightly cut) in a criss cross pattern. Brush egg over the whole lid and we are nearly done.

Lay you lid over the pie and gently squeeze the edges together. Fold the overlapping sides inwards so it looks like this. My youngest son thought it would be a good idea to guard the pie using playmobil warriors.

Unfortunately one of them didn't make it... Twisted Evil

Now pop it in the oven for 45 minutes or so et voila!

I hope you enjoy this dish...

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FISHY WROTE THIS

You've all seen the toad in the hole, now here's my pie:

Had a bit too much gravy that I couldn't be bothered reducing down, so that's why the side looks burnt - amateur mistake I'm afraid Wink

I followed Spliffy's recipe approximately - I cooked the floured beef with garlic and finely chopped onion, then simmered it for between 2 and 3 hours with beer, water, and large pieces of carrot and parsnip, and one onion chopped into quarters. After a while of cooking I checked for seasoning and added salt, pepper and some herbs.

The pastry I made myself today!

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yummy..yummyyyyyyyyyy

so can we have a cooking-section?

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"I´M NOT CRAZY
My Reality Is Just Different Than Yours"

Yes we need cooking special area

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More please Exclamation

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a question chef....

YOU LET YOUR SON HAVE A MAGNUM?! :O

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	d3im0s wrote:
	my girlfriends mum has a tomtom..

looooooooooooooooooool

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"One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die." Uncle Bionic