Beef and Guinness pie

This easy pie recipe makes a hearty beef and Guinness pie the whole family will love. Served with vegetables and mash or salad, it makes an easy meal for a cold winter’s night.

Preparation time: 25 minutes (with a food processor) Cooking time: 3 hours (although you will only be actively cooking for less than half an hour of that. In between time you will only need to do some occasional stirring.) Difficulty rating: Easy

Ingredients

Serves 10

• 1kg heart smart beef mince
• 100g short back bacon (fat trimmed off)
• 1.5 cups of Guinness beer
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 carrots
• 2 sticks of celery
• 4 large mushrooms
• 1 red capsicum
• 1.5 cups beef stock
• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf
• Pinch of rosemary
• Pinch of thyme
• 1 tablespoon cornflour
• 4 sheets reduced fat (vegetable fat) puff pastry
• ½ tablespoon vegetable oil (for frying and greasing pans)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C and lay out the pastry to defrost. It should be room temperature by the time you are ready to use it.
2. Cut the lean bacon into small squares.
3. In a pan or wok large enough to fit the whole pie mixture, pan fry the bacon in a little oil until it is fragrant.
4. In a food processor, mince the onion, garlic, capsicum and mushrooms. (If you don’t have a food processor, finely dice the vegetables, to hide them from fussy kids.)
5. Add the vegetable mixture to the pan and cook on medium heat until it softens slightly.
6. Add in the meat and stir well until slightly browned.
7. Add in the Guinness and stir well.
8. Mix the cornflour into the beef stock (while it is cold) and whisk so it is well combined. Add to the pan and stir well.
9. Cut carrots and celery into small cubes, add it to the pan and mix well.
10. Add the tomato paste, bay leaf, rosemary and thyme to the pan and stir well.
11. Leave to cook on low heat with the lid off for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. If it needs extra fluid, you can add a little water.
12. Lightly grease two standard round pie dishes using the remaining oil and lay 1 sheet of puff pastry on each dish to cover the bottom.
13. Bake the pastry in the oven until it has risen and become a light golden colour.
14. Remove pastry from the oven and reduce the heat to 180.
15. Add the completed pie mixture to the cooked pastry shell. Cover with another sheet of pastry to make the pie top.

Tips

• You can paint the top of the pastry on the pie with milk, egg yolk or olive oil to give it an extra golden sheen.
• If preparing this dish for adults, you can replace ½ cup of the stock with extra Guinness. You could also leave the vegetables chunky and use floured lean chunks of steak instead of mince, for added texture.
• Half the pie mix can be frozen and used at a later date, the taste can even be improved by allowing the beef mixture to mature.
• Make into smaller individual pies and use as a lunch box meal.
• Serve with steamed vegetables and potato mash for a hearty winter meal.

Nutritional content

Nutritional analysis per serve:

References

1. AusNut. Nutrient Database. 2007. [cited 27 April 2012]. Available from: (URL Link)
2. Guinness. Calculate the calories in Guinness. 2012. [cited 11/9/2012]. Available from: (URL Link)
3. Borgs. Reduced Fat Puff Pastry Nutritional Information. 2012. [cited 17 September 2012]. Available from: (URL Link)