4 Main Course Servings
Ingredients
2 pounds boneless beef sirloin, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large, sweet onion coarsely chopped
8 oz button mushrooms, quartered
2 garlic cloves minced
3 tablespoons water
1-1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup beef stock
1 cup Guinness
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons drained, brined green peppercorns coarsely
chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme (I use lemon thyme)
¼ lb. stilton, white cheddar or other sharp cheese, crumbled
or shredded
1 sheet puff pastry dough
1 large egg lightly beaten
1 tablespoon water
Put oven rack in the middle position and preheat oven to 350
degrees.
Pat beef dry. Stir
together flour, salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Add beef, turning to coat, then shake off excess and transfer to a plate. Heat oil
in a wide 5-6 quart ovenproof heavy pot over moderately high heat until just
smoking and then brown meat in 3 batches, turning occasionally, transfer to a
bowl. Be sure you don’t overcrowd the
pan or the pieces won’t brown for you.
Add onion, garlic and water to the pan and cook, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot and stirring constantly until onion is softened, about 4-5 minutes. Add
tomato paste and cooking, stirring for about 1 minute. Stir in stock, beer, Worcestershire sauce,
beef and any juices from bowl, peppercorns and thyme and bring it up to a
simmer, then cover and transfer to oven.
Braise until beef is very tender and sauce is thickened, about 1-1/4 to
1-1/2 hours. About a half hour before
beef is finished, add mushrooms so they cook but do not get too soft.
Discard thyme and cool meat mixture completely (can be made
day before). If stew is warm while
assembling pies, it will melt uncooked pastry top.
Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees. Mix cheese into
meat mixture and divide into 4
individual, oven proof dishes or one larger pan. Roll out puff pastry to 1/8” thick. If using individual dishes, cut into
quarters. Stir together egg and water
and brush a 1-inch border of egg wash around each square. Invert 1 square over each bowl and drape,
pressing sides lightly to adhere. Brush
pastry tops with some of the remaining egg wash and freeze 15 minutes to
thoroughly chill dough.
Bake pies in preheated shallow baking pan until pastry is
puffed and golden brown, about 20 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees and bake 5 minutes more to fully
cook dough.
