This steak pie is an award winner in my house. Yes, it takes a little longer than desirable to make, but it is definitely worth it! After many attempts at making this pie, I found the best and tastiest way to cook the filling entirely in my slow cooker. This cuts out the traditional meat browning process in the frying pan and makes it much less time-consuming.
You’ll find both the slow cooker and stovetop instructions below. The recipe is also slightly versatile in that you can substitute chunks of steak for beef mince or even have a go at turning it into a chicken pie.
I make my own shortcrust and puff pastry for this pie (it tastes that much better!) and always find them much easier to work with when they are made the day before and refrigerated overnight. However, following the packet instructions for best use if you’re going for the quicker option and using store-bought pastry.
Rich Steak Pie Recipe
Ingredients
1 medium yellow onion - diced
1 medium carrots - chopped
2 large cloves garlic - crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter- 1 kilogram steak - minced
1 tablespoon all purpose flour (plain flour Australia and UK) - plain
3 tablespoons tomato paste
150 ml beef stock (beef broth or beef bouillon)
150 ml red wine
400 grams tomato - peeled and chopped
1 dash nutmeg
1 dash salt
1 dash ground black pepper
1 medium egg - beaten- 1 medium puff pastry
- 1 medium short-crust pastry
Instructions
- Pour oil into a large frying pan or pot, add butter and melt on medium heat. Once melted, turn the temperature down to low.
- Add chopped onion, carrot and crushed garlic and cook on low for 5 minutes until they begin to soften.
- Once vegetables are soft, add in the meat (leave the fat on the meat, it’s excellent for flavour). Cook until meat is brown on the outside, then sprinkle over the flour and stir until combined.
- Add tomato puree, beef stock, red wine, and tomatoes into the pan and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Stir well.
- Bring the filling mixture to a boil while stirring continuously, and then reduce the heat to very low.
- Partially cover the pot with a lid leaving one side slightly open for steam to escape, and leave to simmer for at least an hour; stir occasionally.
- Once the meat is soft and melts in your mouth, the filling is done. If using your slow cooker, put all ingredients into the pot, stir and leave to cook the meat on high for 4 hours or on low for 6 hours until the meat is soft and tender.
- Leave the filling to cool in the pot and then put it into the fridge to chill to at least room temperature before assembling the pie.
- Remove both the puff pastry and shortcrust pastry from the fridge.
- Roll out both pastries to at least a 28-centimetre circle and 5-millimetre thick on a lightly floured surface. You can cover in glad wrap and freeze for another time if you have extra pastry here.
- Put some flour in the bottom of your pie tin and lay the shortcrust pastry in the bottom of the dish, allowing the extras to hang over the sides.
- Pour your chilled filling into the dish and carefully spread it out until even.
- At this stage, you can top your filling with cheese if you fancy doing so.
- Using your finger, rub water along the edge of the pastry to make it slightly wet. This allows the bottom pastry to “glue” to the top pastry and prevents your filling from leaking out the side during cooking.
- Place the rolled puff pastry on the pie and press along the edges to seal it together. Cut off the extra pastry with a sharp knife.
- Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the top of your pie with the beaten egg. The egg will turn a lovely golden colour when cooked.
- Place 2 to 3 small steam holes in the centre of the pie with a sharp knife.
- Put into the oven and bake at 200 degrees Celsius for approximately 20 to 30 minutes. Once the top of the pie has turned golden in colour, the pies are done!
- Remove from the oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes before serving.
