How to make the perfect Steak and Ale Pie

**Preparation and cooking time:** 100 minutes
**Serves four people**

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Who doesn’t love a pie? They are the culinary equivalent of a christmas present - lurking beneath a pastry wrapping are delights galore; hunks of meat, rich gravies, vegetables steamed in savoury juices… delicious!

Pies are a big deal in the UK, and they’re a significant part of Aussie food culture, too, so everybody’s repertoire should include at least one tempting pie to whip up on a cold day to share with friends.

This steak and ale pie is a classic, packed full of flavour and topped with a fluffy lid of puff pastry. This recipe is the easy version, featuring shop-bought puff pastry (who’s got the time to make their own?), but you can experiment with different pastry options if you want to go for the full, rustic, hand-crafted versions.

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What you'll need:

• Nine hundred grams of stewing steak or other chopped steak
• One hundred grams of butter
• Twenty-five grams of flour, plus a little extra for dusting
• Two roughly chopped garlic cloves
• Two roughly chopped white onions
• Two roughly chopped carrots
• Two sprigs of fresh thyme
• One hundred and fifty grams of chopped button mushrooms
• Four hundred ml of good ale or dark beer
• Five hundred ml of beef stock (stock cubes are fine!)
• One beaten egg for glazing
• Salt and pepper
• Three hundred grams of ready made and rolled puff pastry

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Method

First

First of all, you’ll need to pre-heat your oven to 220 degrees C. While this is heating up, pour your flour into a mixing bowl, and season liberally. Then dredge your meat in the flour, covering it nicely.

Second

Melt about half of your butter in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, and sear your meat for a couple of minutes until browned all over. Chuck in your vegetables, ale, stock and the herbs. Bring it all to a steady simmer, then cover and cook for about an hour.

Third

When cooked, put in the rest of your butter and give it all a good stir. Season it well, and pour the whole lot into an oven proof serving dish or large pie dish.

Fourth

Now, brush the edges of the dish with your beaten egg. You’ll want to gently roll the pastry over the entire dish, and pinch around the edges to keep it in place. Brush the top with an eggy glaze, and put it on a baking tray.

Fifth

Bake it in an oven for around thirty minutes, until the pastry is all puffed up and golden brown. Serve piping hot with some steamed greens and mashed potatoes.

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Wine pairing for Steak and Ale Pie

This is real comfort food, and it might be more traditional to serve this dish with the ale you used in the recipe. However, as this is a wine blog, and we are all wine fans, we say to ignore tradition and seek out a wine which is going to complement those beefy, umami flavours and turn this into a feast fit for a king.

The wine pairing for this dish is going to have to be a boisterous, full-bodied one, a wine which can hold its own against those deep savoury notes of meat and beer. I’d go for a robust Malbec, which will pair beautifully with the meat, the gravy and the mushrooms. It’s sure to be a winner.

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There you have it -- an easy-to-recreate, flavor-packed recipe for the classic Steak and Ale Pie!

While you stuff yourself with this tasty dish, why not try our wine palate quiz that will match you with your top 3 wine types!

Next up: Take our Wine Palate Quiz and match your personal tastes to your top three wine types