#yorkshireale

Beef in Quaffing Gravy Pie

Quaffing Gravy is a full on, citrusy but delicately hopped Yorkshire pale ale, destined to be a hit in the UK's craft beer scene. A good ale makes for a great cooking ingredient when it comes to stews and slow cooked meats. I decided to make a simple meat pie using a bottle of this excellent craft beer – tender chunks of slow cooked beef in a rich and sumptuous Quaffing Gravy sauce encased in crisp shortcrust pastry.

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

Pie filling:

800g beef shin, ox cheek or stewing steak

2 tbsp plain four

6 juniper berries, crushed

2 medium onions, peeled and roughly chopped

2 large carrots, peeled and diced

2 bay leaves

2 thyme sprigs

1 bottle Quaffing Gravy

450ml beef stock

1 tbsp Henderson’s Relish

1 tbsp butter

Rapeseed oil

Sea salt and black pepper

Shortcrust pastry:

560g self-raising flour

280g salted butter, cubed

120ml/8 tbsp cold water

1 egg, beaten

2 tbsp milk

To make the pie filling:

Step 1: Put the beef on a plate and let it reach room temperature before using, it cooks better this way. Remove any fat or sinew from the beef and cut into medium sized chunks. If using ox cheeks, chop the cheeks into large chunks as the meat has a tendency to fall apart over long cooking times. Season the beef generously with sea salt, black pepper and crushed juniper berries, sprinkle with flour and toss around until lightly coated. Discard any excess flour.

Step 2: Heat two or three lugs of rapeseed oil in a large casserole-type pan on a medium heat and fry the beef (in two batches if need be). Cook the meat briefly sealing it on all sides. Using a slotted spoon, remove the meat from the pan and set aside on a warm plate.

Step 3: Add the butter to the pan followed by the onions, carrots and bay leaves, stir then put the lid on to gently soften the vegetables without browning for about four minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent the vegetables from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Step 4: Using a slotted spoon pan, put the beef back in the pan and cook for a couple of minutes before pouring in your Quaffing Gravy and beef stock. Add a couple of sprigs of thyme, a splash of Henderson’s Relish and stir. Bring the pan to the boil then reduce the heat to a low simmer. Put the lid on the pan and cook for around two hours or until the meat is really tender and the liquid is of a thick syrupy consistency. If you’re using ox cheeks, you could extend the cooking time to four hours or more, top up the pan with more beef stock as required. Remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs.

What you have here then is basically a beef stew that you could at this point serve up with some mash, peas or steamed greens. For a richer and more developed flavour, you can keep the stew in the fridge for up to five days.

To make the shortcrust pastry:

A proper meat pie deserves proper pastry! The quantity of shortcrust dough here will provide enough pastry to line four 18cm oval pie dishes.

Step 1: Put the flour and cubed butter into a large bowl. Use your fingertips to rub the butter and flour together until you have a mixture that resembles a coarse breadcrumb-like consistency. Using a knife, stir in some water a small drop at a time to bind the flour and butter together until it forms a smooth ball of dough. What you don’t want is a sticky mess, so don’t add all the water at once, you may not need to use all of it.

Step 2: Wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least half an hour.

Step 3: On a lightly floured surface, roll out half the pastry to about the thickness of a pound coin and use it to line the base of two 18cm oval pie dishes. The pastry will shrink slightly as it cooks so it’s best to leave about a centimeter or so hanging over the edge of the pastry dish. Prick the pastry bases lightly a few times with a fork.

Repeat the process for two more pie dishes. Set aside the remaining pastry to make lids for the pies.

Step 4: What you don’t want is a pie with a soggy bottom, so the base of the pie should be baked in a preheated oven for around 15 minutes at a temperature of 180°C/ 350°F/gas mark 5. To prevent the dough from rising slightly, put a layer of greaseproof paper over the pastry and weight it down using coins or ceramic baking beans.

Step 5: After the pastry bases have been part-cooked, remove the baking beans (or coins) and greaseproof paper, if using, then spoon your meat filling on top of the pastry in each of the pie dishes. In a small bowl beat an egg, add two tablespoons of milk and lightly beat together to make some egg wash for brushing onto the pies.