Beef, Guiness and Stilton pie

My take on Jamie Oliver's no nonsense beef, Guinness and cheese pie. Substituting the cheddar for Stilton turns this pie into real man-food.

Beef, Guinness and Stilton pie ingredients

• 800g stewing beef, cut into chunks
• 500ml Guinness
• 3 small onions
• 3 cloves garlic
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• 2 medium carrots
• 3 sticks celery
• About 75g Stilton
• 1 tablespoon plain flour
• 4 portabello mushrooms
• Homemade spelt rough puff pastry
• A little egg

How to make beef, Guinness and Stilton pie

1. Heat a tablespoon  of rapeseed oil in your largest Le Creuset casserole dish. If you don't have a selection of Le Creuset dishes, buy a large one to start with then ask for varying sized ones for birthdays and Christmas. The initial outlay may be expensive, but the rest of this recipe is pretty economical. 
2. Heat the oven to the Magic Cooking Number 190 degrees C.
3. Chop the onions roughly and fry gently for about 10 minutes.
4. Chop the garlic finely.
5. Roughly cut the celery and 1 of the carrots into large pieces. Grate the other carrot. 
6. Pull the needles off the rosemary and chop finely. 
7. If you're lucky enough to get your beef from an over-priced butcher with its own branded waxed paper, spread the beef out on the paper and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon plain flour then season generously with salt and black pepper. Pull up the 4 corners of the paper and give the whole lot a good shake to coat the beef with the seasoned flour. 
8. If your beef comes from a normal butcher or (heaven forbid!) a supermarket, just put the meat, four, salt and pepper in a large bowl and toss together. 
9. Add the garlic, carrots and celery then turn up the heat and add the floured beef and the rosemary.
10. Fry for about 5 minutes till most of the meat is browned.
11. Add the Guinness - if this doesn't completely cover the contents of the pan add some water so it does.
12. Cover with the lid and bring to the boil.
13. Put in the pre-heated oven for an hour and a half.
    
    My mum marinades the beef overnight in the Guinness when she makes this pie, but Jamie doesn't. As a compromise I got to this stage on Saturday evening and then switched the oven off, leaving the cooked beef in the Guinness overnight.          
14. The next day I cooked the beef for a further hour with the lid off to thicken the sauce, again at 190C.
    
    This actually reduced a little too much, but luckily I had a small pot of beef stock in the freezer which I added, ending up with the right amount of liquid.
15. Remove from the oven and leave to cool while you make the pastry. You can of course use bough puff pastry if you prefer.
16. Tip the beef into a pie dish and crumble the cheese into it.
17. Roll out enough pastry to cover the top.
    
    I normally only cover the top of the pie with pastry, much to the disgust of Ollie, who says this is not a real pie. Today, because I'd made double quantity pastry, I did a top and bottom pastry pie, or, essentially, a giant pasty. However, I was right in my assumption that this would result in a soggy bottom - next time it will be top only.
18. Drape the pastry over the pie dish and press down firmly around the lip of the dish. 
19. Score the pastry with a knife in a criss-cross pattern. 
20. Brush the pastry with a little beaten egg.
21. Cook at 190C for about 45 minutes. 

Steak for pie

For some reason I forgot to take a picture of the actual pie, although I took one of the steak, raw and cooked:

Steak and Stilton before the pie bit was added

I do, however, appear to have a collection of photos of pies, so here's what it could have looked like: 

 

A pie (slightly blurred)

Pasta with mushrooms

This was a really tasty pasta dish. Since I'd already made the mushroom ragu it was ready in the time it took the pasta to cook (just under 10 minutes). 

Pasta with mushrooms and walnuts

Pasta with mushrooms ingredients

• 2 rashers streaky bacon, chopped
• 1 portion leftover mushroom ragu (which contains Stilton)
• A v small handful walnuts
• Sploosh red wine
• a slice feta, crumbled
• About 50ml cream, or as much as you have left over from something else
• 4 cherry tomatoes
• 50 ml milk if needed
• Enough pasta for 2 people (I used conchiglie)

How to make pasta with mushrooms

1. Boil the kettle then fill a large pan with boiling water.
2. Add a large pinch of salt to the water, then add the pasta. 
3. Heat a large frying pan on a high heat
4. Add the chopped streaky bacon and fry until the fat begins to render and the bacon is crisp.
5. Add the walnuts and fry for about a minute.
6. Add the red wine and cook till most of the liquid has evaporated.
7. Reduce the heat and add the mushroom ragu and tomatoes.
8. Cook till the ragu has warmed through, the tomatoes have burst and the pasta is ready.
9. Drain the pasta, reserving a small amount of the water, and blanch with freshly boiled water. 
10. Add the cream and the reserved cooking water to the sauce. If it is still a little too tick, add the milk.
11. Tip the pasta back into the pan and pour in the sauce.
12. Add the crumbled feta and toss to coat the pasta with the sauce.
13. Serve in warm bowls.

Spaghetti bolognese

For Kate and Nellie

I’ve been meaning to write up my spag bol recipe for my friend Kate for ages but it’s been a while since I made it and I had no idea what quantity of mince I use. I always buy meat from the butcher’s so I ask for the amount I want by eye rather than weight. Today, though, they had 500g packs of minced lamb already weighed out, so that’s what I’m using. You can of course use minced beef if you prefer.

I heard Antonio Carluccio on Woman’s Hour once saying how spag bol should take half an hour to make, not 3 hours. This version takes somewhere in between. He also insists that minced pork should be included – I have tried this and agree it does make for a tasty version but don’t think a porkless version is any the worse for the omission.

Others also insist on including pancetta or streaky bacon. I find this totally unnecessary – this dish already contains a large amount of meat, I don’t see that you need to introduce more, especially cured, given the other strong flavours in this dish. In fact, I often add some Quorn to my spag bol to make it ever so slightly healthier. Don’t be taken in by the adverts though, a Quorn-only spag bol would be insipid, but you can get away with adding a little.

Spaghetti bolognese ingredients

• 1 large or 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 2 fat cloves garlic
• 2 carrot, grated
• 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
• 500g minced lamb or beef
• 2 tins plum tomatoes
• Chestnut mushrooms, sliced or quartered, as you prefer. Oops – I forgot to weigh how much. Probably a supermarket punnet worth
• Dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf

Optional spag bol ingredients

• A splash of red wine – I say optional if Kate is making this for 3-year -old Nellie, though I wouldn't dream of omitting this in my version
• Fresh rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped 
• Quorn – probably about 100g
• Red lentils – I sometimes add a handful to thicken the sauce

How to make spaghetti bolognese 

This really is one of the simplest meals to make.

1. Heat a little olive oil gently in a large casserole pan
2. Add the onion and fry till soft
3. Add the garlic, celery and carrot, and fry for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently
4. Turn the heat up to high and add the meat
5. Cook, stirring, until the meat is browned
6. Add the wine, if using, and continue to cook on a high heat till it has almost all evaporated
7. Add both tins of tomatoes.
8. Rinse out the tomato tins with a little water to get any juice left on the side of the tin, and add this too
9. Season with salt and pepper and the oregano and rosemary if using, and bring to the boil.
10. Add the mushrooms then reduce the heat to a lively simmer.
11. Simmer for about an hour, or until most of the liquid has evaporated and you are left with a concentrated sauce.

This makes enough for 2 very large portions served with wholemeal spaghetti and freshly grated Parmesan, plus enough to make a lasagne for 4 people.