Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Beef and Mushroom Pie Recipe

individualbeefmushroompie
A shortcrust pastry base and flaky puff pastry lid enclose a moist and tender beef and mushroom filling. This recipe is an adaptation of our meat pie recipe: we've added mushrooms and thyme and increased the amount of red wine.

Preparation time: about 1 hour 15 minutes (excludes simmering and baking times)

Makes 6 single-serve pies.

We use a 20ml tablespoon and 250ml measuring cup for all of our recipes.

40ml (2 tablespoons) oil
850g trimmed beef chuck or blade (or similar cut of meat), cut into bite-sized pieces
1 large (about 200g) onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves (about 17g total), peeled and crushed
24g (1 tablespoon) tomato paste
125ml (1/2 cup) red wine
375ml (1 1/2 cups) beef stock (we use a low salt stock)
335ml (1 1/3 cups) water
20ml (1 tablespoon) worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves (fresh or dried)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1/3 teaspoon dried thyme leaves)
Salt and pepper, to taste (we use about 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper)
300g mushrooms (cup or flat mushrooms)
24g (2 tablespoons) cornflour (cornstarch)
20ml (1 tablespoon) water
2 sheets puff pastry (each about 25cm by 25cm)
2-3 sheets shortcrust pastry (each about 25cm by 25cm)
pieingredients2
We brown the meat in two batches to avoid overcrowding the pot. If you need to brown the meat in more than two batches, ignore the suggested oil and meat quantities in the following paragraph and divide 1 3/4 tablespoons oil among the batches (the remaining teaspoon of oil is used when cooking the onion).

Heat one tablespoon of the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan or stockpot over high heat. Add half the meat and cook, stirring occasionally, until well browned (about six to eight minutes). Remove the saucepan from the heat and transfer the browned meat to a bowl. Add three teaspoons of the remaining oil to the pot and return to the heat. Brown remaining meat. Transfer second batch of meat to the bowl with the first batch.
brownedbeef
Reduce heat to medium-low, add the last teaspoon of oil and onion to the pot. Return to the heat and stir frequently, scraping any brown bits off the bottom of the pot.
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When the onion has softened and lightly browned, add garlic and tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, for one minute.
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Stir in red wine, increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Add stock, 335ml (1 1/3 cups) water, worcestershire sauce, meat, bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper.
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Stir to combine and bring mixture to the boil. Cover and reduce heat to low so the mixture is just simmering. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 2 hours or until the meat is very tender. © exclusivelyfood.com.au

Roughly chop the mushrooms and add to the pot.
beefmushroompie2
With the lid off, continue simmering (you may need to increase the heat slightly to maintain a simmer) for a further 30 to 40 minutes, until pieces of meat protrude above the liquid.
beefmushroompie11
Stir the cornflour and the 20ml (1 tablespoon) water in a small bowl until well combined. Stir cornflour mixture into meat mixture. Cook, stirring, until the mixture returns to a simmer. Allow to simmer for one minute. Taste and add extra salt or pepper if desired.

Remove meat mixture from the heat and transfer to a heatproof container or leave in the cooking pot. Remove bay leaves. Cover and refrigerate mixture until completely cold.
beefmushroomfilling
When ready to cook the pies, preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius (180 degrees Celsius fan-forced). If you are not using a fan-forced oven, adjust the oven rack to the lowest position; the pastry bases will brown better if they are close to the bottom element.

Remove pastry sheets from the freezer.

Grease six non-stick individual-serve pie tins. We use 3cm deep pie tins that measure about 7.5cm across the base and about 12.5cm across the top (including the rim).
greasepietin
Invert a pie tin on a puff pastry sheet (near the edge to maximise the number of lids you can cut from the pastry before having to join pieces). Cut around the tin to form a lid.
cuttingpastrylid
Repeat until you have six lids. To minimise waste, join pastry offcuts by slightly overlapping them and pressing together with fingers to form pieces large enough to make a lid. You should be able to get six lids from two sheets of 25cm x 25cm pastry. Place pastry lids in a single layer, and cover with a damp, clean tea towel to prevent them drying out.

Invert pie tin on shortcrust pastry and cut around the pie tin about 1.5cm from the edge of the tin. Repeat until you have six rounds, joining pastry (as previously described) when necessary.
cuttingpastry
Ease shortcrust pastry rounds into pie tins. If you can see air bubbles under the pastry, lift some of the pastry away from the edge of the tin and push the air out with your fingers.

Divide meat mixture evenly among pastry bases.
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Brush rims of pastry bases with water and cover pies with puff pastry lids.

Using a fork, firmly press around the edge of each pie lid to join lid to base.
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Use a sharp knife to trim any pastry overhanging the tins.
trimexcesspastry
Use the point of the knife to make a few small cuts in each pastry lid. At this point, the pies could be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator or wrapped and frozen.

Bake pies for about 35-45 minutes, or until the tops and bases are golden brown. If baking from frozen, pies will take about one hour.
© www.exclusivelyfood.com.au


12 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

This pie is delicious, the meat is so tender. The family loved it. Will make again.

5/2/11 9:35 am  
Blogger SumZ said...

Looks yummy... gonna try it.

7/2/11 12:54 pm  
Anonymous Deborah said...

Delicious flavour - but I made the mistake of using gravy beef so not a great result. I'll definitely make it again, but this time using minced beef (preferred by the rest of the family). Any hints on amount to use? Am assuming cooking time would be the same to get rich flavours.

7/2/11 9:51 pm  
Anonymous Wendy @ Obesebaby said...

I used bladed beef before. wasn't that great maybe will try chuck

7/2/11 11:32 pm  
Blogger CyberCyster said...

This looks delicious! It would be great if you could include nutritional information for those of us with medical restrictions.

8/2/11 4:31 am  
Anonymous Lexi said...

Would it be possible after frying the onions etc, to put it all in the slow cooker and finish cooking the filling that way? My stove top is impossible to control heat!

23/3/11 12:45 pm  
Blogger Amanda and Debbie said...

Hi Lexi

That should work well. If you will not be able to simmer the meat mixture uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes in your slow cooker, you should probably use less water so that the filling will not be too runny.

6/4/11 10:21 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi i really want to cook this for my family for dinner tonight, but wondering if i'd be able to make it as one big pie instead? Would the cooking time or anything have to be changed? Thanks so much, in love with your website!

11/4/11 2:55 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Have made these twice and have been perfect each time, they also make a great lunchbox filler for a hungry hubby, thanks again girls!

25/4/11 1:04 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

For religious reasons, is it possible to leave out the wine? Can I substitute more stock instead?

29/7/12 6:54 pm  
Blogger Georgia said...

Amazing!! There is so much flavour in this meal. I am a coeliac so I made sure to use pure corn flour and gluten-free pastry.

30/7/12 9:41 pm  
Blogger Jayde said...

We made ours using gravy beef, it ended up so tender and delicious. Thanks so much for the great recipe.
I have a blog, and I'm currently doing a recipe challenge. I have created a post, based on your recipe. Here's the link if you'd like to read it http://adayinthelifeofjayde.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/challenge-2014-week-two-steak-mushroom.html

12/1/14 10:10 pm  

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