I made Beef and Guinness pie yesterday. It was based on a recipe from Taste.com.au (as so many of my favourites are) but I did tweak it a little, then cooked it in the slow cooker before topping with pastry and finishing off in the oven.

Here’s how I did it.

Ingredients

• 2kg chuck steak, diced. If it’s really fatty, and if you are an anti-fat freak like me, get extra to allow for your personal trimming. But chuck steak — which is meat from the neck of the beast — cooked slowly is yummmmmmy.)
• oil as required if you don’t have a non-stick fry pan
• 3 onions, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 can (440ml) Guinness
• ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1½ cup beef stock
• ½ cup beef stock (extra)
• ½ cup flour (YMMV)
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• puff pastry (I tried Coles brand. My advice to you is: don’t try Coles brand. It flakes but barely puffs.)
• 1 egg, beaten. (Why does this make me feel like a beaten egg? But I digress.)

Method

1. Heat the oil (or just a non-stick pan) and brown the diced steak (in batches if necessary), then set the browned meat aside in the slow cooker pot. Be careful not to put too much in the pan at a time, and drain juices as required so the diced steak doesn’t stew instead of browning. But don’t worry too much if it does.
2. Fry onion and garlic until golden.
3. Add Guinness, 1 1/2 cup beef stock, and Worcestershire sauce to pan with onion and garlic. Heat.
4. Add onion, garlic, Guinness, stock and Worcestershire sauce to slow cooker pot. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Cook on Low for 6-8 hours. (Again, YMMV)
6. Half an hour before the meat mixture is ready (or perhaps when you are ready for the meat mixture!) mix the flour with the remaining 1/2 cup beef stock bit by bit until the consistency is smooth but not runny. Add to the slow cooker pot.
7. Preheat oven to 200°C
8. Spoon mixture into 250ml-350ml individual oven-proof dishes. Top with pastry and brush with beaten egg.
9. Cook in oven for 25 mins or until pastry is crisp and golden.

Serve with mashed potato and (if, unlike me, you like peas) mushy peas.

Reading up, it seems like there are a lot of steps but it was actually very simple to prepare and everyone who partook of this meal apparently did so with enjoyment. ;-)