Beef and stout pie with onion mash: Best pie recipe 2023?

Beef and stout pie with onion mashed potato, I mean: come on…

This made enough for easily two fair-sized Beef and stout pie with onion mash servings. I finished baking them in my Korean stoneware bowls, that you can use on the hob or in the oven. These were a great addition to Kitchen Kennett. Each bowl holds enough pie for two people. So two pies equate to 4 people in my reckoning.

You could use any oven or pie dishes. It just so happened I have these Korean things to use. This dish was a creation I made one day, as I sat there wanting inspiration. How do I use these flipping earthenware bowls I just bought? Well here we go, this will do methinks.

Mary and Jude were still away. Yes, it was the visa issue time when I made this. I wanted to cook something a little different from my usual style. When walking through Cold Storage I spotted a bottle of stout. Ping goes me. Beef and Stout pie with onion mash was created on the spot.

The kids were all like “Oooooh we’re going to be drinking beer.” Bless them. No my darlings that would be your Daddy’s job. But you will be eating Beef and stout pie with onion mash right now and yes it does contain beer. How to explain that one?

Phase I – The Mash;

8 washed white potatoes – leave the skin on as it adds more flavour;
1/2 a pot of double cream;
A knob of salted butter;
5 Spring onions – finely chop just the green part; and
A good pinch of sea salt and cracked black pepper.

Cut the potatoes into small cubes. Add to boiling salted water and cook until soft. Drain them, put them back in the pot add the cream, butter, salt, and pepper, and mash them to a smooth, no lumpy consistency. Stir in the Spring onions. That’s your mash done. Set aside.

Phase II – The Pie Filling;

400g of thinly sliced sirloin beef steak;
1 packet of button mushrooms cut into quarters;
4 small red onions finely sliced;
1/2 bottle of stout;
3 finely chopped garlic cloves;
A little corn starch dissolved in cold water, if you need to thicken the gravy; and
Sea salt & cracked black pepper.

Get your wok nice and hot add some oil and fry off the garlic and onion until they are sweated down. In goes the beef, mushrooms, and Stout, and cook this until the strong alcohol smell has gone. You want flavour, not alcohol. Who am I kidding – I always want both. Cook this on a lowish flame until the very evident alcohol smell has gone. You’re basally burning off the alcohol and leaving the taste of the stout, but not burning the meat. This is Beef and stout pie with onion mash after all.

If there is still a lot of liquid left add in some corn starch to thicken it up. Spoon this into your pie dishes and then spoon the mashed potato on top. Smooth that out to cover all the meat. Make a wee hole in to top though to let the steam out, so the pie does not explode.