There is pure magic in a well cooked pie. Do it wrong and you have a soggy disaster. The Greeks were the first to seal meat in pastry to contain the cooking juices to stop them from being wasted. In Australia there is a beef pie served with mushy peas, malt vinegar and tomato ketchup all mashed up into the center. It is absolutely delicious. In England, they apparently like birds in their pies.

“ Sing a song of sixpence, a pocketful of rye, four and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie. When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing. Now wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before a king? ”.

Irish wise, we’re not really known for pies but enjoy them all the same.

This recipe is my first cooking video. I really loved making it with the help of my wonderful wife and daughter. All the footage was filmed using my iPhone 11 and edited using the Splice app.

The Ingredients:

4 red onions

250g of ribeye steak

Maldon sea salt

Pepper

1 tbsp fresh thyme

1 glass of craft ale

1 cup of flour

1 cup of unsalted butter

1 sheet of puff pastry

Worcestershire sauce

200ml of beef stock

The Make:

Chop up the onions. Melt butter in a frying pan. Fry onions until they caramelise. Add in chopped fresh thyme. Add in a cup of flour and mix together to make a roux. Now pour in glass of beer and mix together to make a thick sauce.

Take the 250g ribeye steak and season with salt and pepper. Cook steak in a separate pan until medium rare. Chop up steak into bite size pieces and add it to the cooked onions. Add in enough beef stock to loosen up the sauce to a smooth consistency. Add in a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. Stir together and set aside to simmer.

Flour work top and roll out puff pastry to make the pie. Use the side of the pie dish to measure the height of the pie wall. Grease the pie tin and cut the pastry to size. Press the pastry into the dish to make the wall. Cut off any excess pastry. Use a dab of water to seal the pastry. Use base of pie dish to measure diameter of base. If cooking at least two pies remember to have enough pastry for four cuts, two lids and two bases. Press base into tin using a dab water to seal the pastry into place.

Take some greaseproof paper and place it in to the pie and fill it with some baking beans. Bake pie in a fan oven at 180C for 20 minutes. Remove baked pie from oven and take out baking beans and greaseproof paper. Beat one egg to egg-wash pastry. Use a fork to prick the base of the pie. This stops the pastry rising when it goes back in the oven. Egg-wash pastry and place back in to the 180C oven for 15 minutes or until the pastry is golden. This is called blind baking and can take a lot shorter depending on your oven. So keep a close eye on it. Once done remove it from the oven and spoon in the steak and onion filling. Egg-wash the rim of the pie and place the lid on. Pinch the pastry lid to make sure there’s tight seal. Use a knife to cut a small hole in the top to allow steam to escape when cooking. Egg-wash lid and sprinkle some sea salt on top. Place pie back in oven for 20 minutes. Once lid is golden brown remove pie and set aside. Use a spatula to serve pie on a plate.

Enjoy.