Hearty beef pie

SERVES 4 PREPARATION: 5 MIN COOKING: 2 HRS

FILLING

15ml (1T) butter

30ml (2T) oil

2 onions, sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed 600-700g beef stewing meat,

cubed salt and freshly ground

black pepper

60ml (¼c) flour

30ml (2T) tomato paste

1 can (410g) chopped tomatoes 500ml (2c) beef stock

15ml (1T) sugar

PASTRY

500g puff pastry

1 egg whisked with 15ml (1T) water

TO SERVE

wholegrain mustard fresh tomato salad

1 FILLING Heat the butter and 15ml (1T) of the oil in a medium saucepan and fry the onions and garlic until caramelised. Remove from the pan.

2 Season the meat with salt and pepper and sprinkle the flour over. Heat the rest of the oil in the saucepan and fry the meat in batches until lightly browned. Return the onion mixture to the saucepan, add the tomato paste and stir-fry for 1 minute.

3 Add the chopped tomatoes and stock and simmer until the meat is tender, about 1 hour 40 minutes. Occasionally add more water and stir so the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the saucepan. Season with salt, pepper and sugar. 4 PASTRY Spoon the meat mixture into a pie dish or 4 smaller dishes. Gently roll out the pastry to the same size as the pie dish(es) and arrange on top of the meat.

5 Brush with the whisked egg mixture and bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

6 TO SERVE Serve the pie with wholegrain mustard and a tomato salad.