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Epic Chunky Beef and Mushroom Pie

This tasty beef casserole is like none you’ve had before! To start a beef stew is made with chunks of beef, onions, garlic, celery & carrots. Flour, seasonings & beef stock are added in next. After cooking awhile, either on the stove top or in the slow cooker, whole button mushrooms are added for the last part of the cooking time. Then the stew is transferred to a baking pan and puff pastry is placed on top and then the dish is baked until the puff pastry is golden.
Course Entree
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours
Servings 6 people

Ingredients

  • 0.7 oz dried porcini mushrooms slices, whole or chopped
  • 1 ¼ cups boiled water
  • 2 lb chuck beef cut into 1” cubes
  • 1 - 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 onion finely chopped
  • 1 celery finely chopped
  • 1 carrot finely chopped
  • 3 carrots halved lengthwise then cut into 1.5cm/ 3/5” chunks
  • ⅓ cup flour any
  • 10 oz dark ale or substitute with red wine, Guinness or more beef stock
  • 2 cups beef stock
  • 3 sprigs thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme leaves
  • 2 bay leaves fresh or dried
  • 7 oz bacon diced
  • 10 – 13 oz Swiss brown mushrooms
  • 1 – 2 sheets puff pastry enough to cover pie
  • 1 egg yolk

Instructions

  1. Place porcini in a bowl and add hot water. Leave to soak for at least 30 minutes. Strain mushrooms and reserve soaking liquid. Roughly chop porcini.
  2. Sprinkle beef with salt and pepper.
  3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large heavy based pot. Add half the beef and brown all over, then remove and repeat with remaining beef. Set beef aside.
  4. Turn stove down to medium low. If the pot is looking dry, add more oil. Add onion and garlic, cook for 2 minutes. Add finely chopped carrots and celery, cook for 6 minutes or until softened and sweet (taste test!). Add carrot chunks and cook for 2 minutes.
  5. Add flour and stir through. Then add ale, beef stock, and stir to dissolve the flour.
  6. Add thyme, bay leaves, porcini, reserved porcini soaking liquid (don’t tip in gritty bits settled at bottom) and cooked beef. Turn heat up slightly, mix, bring to simmer, and then cover. Adjust heat so it is simmering gently, not energetically.
  7. Cook on stove top for 1 hr 45 minutes or until beef is tender.
  8. Meanwhile, cook bacon in a skillet over high heat until golden. Remove and reserve bacon drippings in pan. Add mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes until golden all over. Return bacon into skillet, toss to coat mushrooms, and then stir through stew.
  9. Simmer stew, uncovered, for 15 minutes until mushrooms are tender. Then remove from stove and cool.

Bake:

  1. Preheat oven to 390F. Pour stew into a casserole dish, even out surface.
  2. Top with puff pastry (if too big, just fold the ends in), brush with egg yolk. Cut a few slits in the surface then bake for 30 – 35 minutes until deep golden and the filling is piping hot in the middle (stick a knife in to check). Rest for 5 minutes before serving!

Slow Cooker

  1. Skip the beef broth and use 2 x crumbled beef stock cubes instead.
  2. Follow recipe up to cooking on stove top then transfer everything into a slow cooker (liquid might not cover everything, that's ok). Slow cook for 6 hours on LOW, or 3 hours on HIGH. Then add cooked bacon and mushrooms, slow cook for another 45 minutes or do this step on the stove. If the liquid did not thicken to a thin gravy, simmer it uncovered on the stove. When it cools, the sauce thickens more.

PRESSURE COOKER:

  1. As with slow cooker directions but pressure cook on high for 25 minutes.

Recipe Notes

I substitute a can of beef consommé for the ale. My grocery store was out of the dried mushrooms, so I had to skip that step.