STEAK, ALE AND LOTS OF MUSHROOM PIE

THE ultimate comfort food: long, slow simmering gives this pie richness, while the lid is made with suet and baked in a pie dish (not a pudding bowl), for flaky, crispy suet pastry.

Serves 4

Kit you’ll need

25cm (10in) round x 5cm (2in) deep pie dish, about 1.2 litre (2 pt) capacity Pie funnel Baking sheet

For the steak and mushroom filling

Small handful dried porcini mushrooms, about 8g (¼oz)

100ml (3½fl oz) boiling water

1 large carrot, about 250g (9oz)

3 large flat mushrooms, such as Portobello

150g (5½oz) chestnut mushrooms

2 tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 thyme sprigs 550g (1lb 3oz) braising steak

25g (1oz) plain flour

200ml ( 1/3pt) brown ale

300ml (½pt) beef stock (from a good cube is fine)

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

1 tsp dark muscovado sugar Salt, freshly ground black pepper

For the mustard and thyme suet pastry

200g (7oz) self-raising flour

115g (4oz) shredded beef suet

¼ tsp salt

1½ tsp wholegrain mustard

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves and tiny sprigs, plus extra sprigs to garnish

Milk, for brushing

1 Start with your filling. Put the porcini mushrooms in a small bowl, pour over the boiling water to cover them and leave to soak for 20 minutes. Chop the carrot into 2cm (1in) chunky pieces and cut the flat mushrooms into 1cm slices. Halve or quarter the chestnut mushrooms, depending on their size.

2 Heat the oil in a large pan. Tip in the onion and thyme sprigs and fry for 5-7 minutes until the onions are golden brown, stirring occasionally. Cut the braising steak into 34cm (1¼-1½in) chunks and add to the pan. Season with pepper and fry for 3 minutes until it’s lost its pink colour. Stir in the flour and stir for a couple of minutes to cook it.

3 Pour in the ale and stock, stirring to thicken, then stir in 1 tsp of mustard and 1 tsp of sugar. Tip in carrot, sliced flat mushrooms and chestnut mushrooms. Drain the porcini mushrooms, saving the soaking liquid, and add to the pan with 3 tbsp of their liquid. Bring to the boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer very gently for 2 hours or until the meat is tender, stirring occasionally. Keep it on a very low simmer, with a few bubbles breaking the surface, so the meat cooks really slowly, to make it tender. Remove from the heat, season to taste with salt and pepper and put to one side to cool. (If you want thicker gravy, mix a little gravy with 1 tsp of flour to slacken it, pour it back into the pan and stir through to heat and thicken.) The filling can be made a day ahead and chilled overnight.

4 Preheat the oven to 200c/180c fan/400f/gas 6. For the pastry, put 200g (7oz) flour, 115g (4oz) suet and ¼ tsp of salt in a bowl. Add the 1½ tsp of mustard and 2 tsp of thyme, then pour in about 8–9 tbsp of cold water and stir with a knife to form a dough that’s fairly soft and light. Tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly and briefly until smooth, then flatten the pastry to make a disc shape.

5 Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until it’s slightly thicker than a £1 coin and about 3cm (1¼ in) wider all round than the outside rim of the dish. (Sit the empty dish on the pastry to check.) Cut off a narrow strip round the edge of the pastry (the same width as the rim), leaving you with a lid for the pie that is big enough to cover the pie dish and its rim.

6 Sit a pie funnel in the middle of the pie dish. Spoon in the filling, picking out and discarding the thyme sprigs. The meat filling should come up to the level of the pie dish. Pour in gravy (about 10–12 tbsp, enough to come about halfway up the dish) to moisten the meat and vegetables, but not so much that it bubbles out. Save the rest of the gravy.

7 Brush the rim of the dish with water and cover it with the pastry strip, cutting it in half if it’s easier, trimming it to fit neatly and pressing it down gently. Brush the pastry-lined rim with water. Lay the pastry lid over the filling, and press it down around the rim of the dish to seal. Trim with scissors, and flute the edges by pinching the pastry with your thumb and finger. Brush the lid with milk.

8 Place pie dish on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until pastry is flaky and golden. Warm the saved gravy and serve with the pie, garnished with thyme sprigs.