Steak and Guinness Pie

Directions

For The Filling

1. Make pie crust ahead of time and chill for 20 minutes before rolling out, recipe below.

2. Mix salt, white pepper, and black pepper in a small bowl. Dry stew meat with a paper towel and sprinkle salt mixture over meat, coating evenly. Preheat a medium pot on the stove over medium/high heat. Add oil to the pan, when oil begins to smoke, add meat and sear on all sides. Once meat is evenly browned, remove meat from pan and set aside.

3. In the same pan (do not clean the pan), add carrots, onions, celery and mushrooms. Cook until browned slightly (about 10 minutes). Add garlic and thyme to the pan and stir. Next, add butter and melt. Dust the vegetable mixture with the flour and stir until flour evenly coats the vegetables. You have now made a roux on top of your vegetables, which will thicken your sauce!

4. Stir in beef stock and beer thoroughly to prevent lumps. Add beef (and any drippings that rendered from the meat while resting) back to the pan. Cover and cook for 2 hours or until meat is falling apart. Add peas to beef stew filling. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust if necessary.

5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Divide pie crust into 2 even balls. Roll the first ball to 1/8 inch thickness. Spray a pie pan or dish with cooking spray. Line the pie pan or dish with the pie crust. Dock the crust (poke holes in the bottom) and blind bake, using pie weights for about 10-15 minutes.

6. Roll the second pie crust to 1/8 inch thickness. Fill blind-baked pie shell with meat filling. Top with the second pie crust and crimp together decoratively. Cut even slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape. Bake the pie until the top crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling, about 45 minutes. Rest pie 10 minutes and serve.

For The Pie Crust

1. In a small saucepan, melt butter and begin to brown. Brown butter until the milk solids are golden and have a nutty smell, do not burn! Pour browned butter into a plastic wrap-lined bowl. Freeze butter solid (about 2 hours).

2. Remove butter from bowl by lifting the plastic wrap. Remove plastic wrap and dice the butter in 1 inch chunks. Place flour, salt, and sugar into a food processor. Pulse to mix ingredients. Add butter to food processor and pulse until butter pieces are about a pea size.

3. Add half of the water and pulse the dough. Add water until the dough forms a ball. Remove the dough ball, wrap with plastic wrap and flatten into a disk. Rest dough for at least 20 minutes.