Beef and potato pie

Beef and potato pie, using gravy beef and beef round

Hearty, nostalgic and most importantly delicious beef and potato pot pie–this is a recipe to add to your long term collection. Perhaps not something you make every week but when the weather or the occasion calls you have 'just the thing' to bring to the table in your home. This recipe spreads joy. In summer you bring it to life with a crisp salad and tangy lemon dressing with curly leaf parsley. In winter you steam anything green and bunker down for a night of good eatin'. You can easily double this recipe by using a combination of slow cooking cuts of beef.

Ingredients 

1 tbs Ethical Farmers beef tallow 

1kg diced beef (or brisket or osso buco or oxtail or a combination)

2 large onions diced 

4 cloves garlic minced 

2 large potato cubed

500g EF beef broth or homemade stock

1 cup red wine 

3 tbs white unbleached flour or GF flour of choice

1 tbs tomato paste 

2 bay leaves 

Salt & pepper

Puff pastry sheet 

Method 

1. Season the beef with salt and pepper then set aside. 
2. In a heavy base pot add the tallow and turn the heat to high. 
3. When the tallow has melted add the beef chunks to the pot in batches. Just enough to cover the base of the pot, brown on all sides then remove and set aside. Repeat and set beef aside. 
4. Sauté the onion and garlic in the pot and cook until they are translucent, about 4 mins. Add extra tallow if the onion starts to stick. Add the flour and cook for a further 2 mins. 
5. Next add the beef broth, red wine, tomato paste and bay leaf. Bring to boil, add your beef and turn the heat down to a low simmer. Put the lid on and cook for 2 hours. 
6. At 2 hours take the ride off, turn the heat up and reduce the liquid to a thick gravy (about 30 minutes) take the lid off and turn the heat up. You want to reduce the sauce to a thick gravy—about 30 min. 
7. While you’re reducing the pie filling, put your potatoes in a pot of water season with salt and cook till ¾ ready. Transfer the cooked potatoes to the meat and mix through.  
8. Remove from the stove when the potatoes are cooked and the meat tender. Place into a dish and cool on the bench and then in the fridge overnight (or at least 4 hours).
9. Once the filling is cool place into a baking or pie dish and lay your choice of good quality puff pastry on top, brush the pastry with a whisked egg or milk. Make sure to pierce the top of the pastry with a fork to ensure any steam can escape. 
10. Place the pie in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees and cook for 30 min or until golden brown.