Individual Steak and Guiness Pies

Cooking beef goulash in Guinness (or other dark beer) with this simple method produces a soft and succulent pie filling, with a rich, brown gravy. I made individual pies, but of course you can make one large pie if you prefer.

Ingredients:

• 750g beef goulash, cut into 1cm cubes
• 3 Tbs flour
• 3 large onions, chopped
• 350ml Guinness (2/3 bottle)
• 1 can button mushrooms
• 2 Tbs chopped thyme (optional)
• 1 tsp Worcester Sauce (optional)
• 1 tsp nustard poweder (optional)
• 500g pastry
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions:

• Sprinkle beef with flour, and mix well to coat
• Fry onions in 3 Tbs oil till soft
• Add meat and cook on a low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, till browned all over
• Add the beer and next three ingredients, bring to boil, cover and simmer for an hour, stirring regularly to prevent sticking
• Don't drink the remaining beer yet; you may need to add a bit more to the meat
• Roll out the pastry and line pie molds
• Fill and cover
• Bake at 180C until golden

I had quite a lot of leftover pastry trimmings, which wouldn't make good pies (well actually I just couldn't be bothered to roll out any more). So I just rolled them out roughly, cut them into irregular strips, sprinkled them with paprika, salt and pepper, and served them drizzled with thick gravy (a la vol-au-vent) at a different meal.