Steak Pie with Blue Cheese Pastry, Butter Mash and Wild Pea Pesto
Recipe by Jay Miller
See more of Jay’s creations: instagram.com/jasonderrickmiller
Ingredients:
Pie Filling:
400ml water
1kg chuck steaks (make sure they’re nice and thick)
Olive oil
3 large brown onions (1 sliced and two chopped)
100g unsalted butter, softened
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 large carrots, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs rosemary
A few sprigs of thyme
Bunch of parsley
1 can milk stout
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup white port
2 tbsp red wine vinegar, to taste
¼ cup plain flour
salt and pepper
Blue Cheese Pastry:
400g plain flour
170g Any strong blue cheese
50g unsalted butter
40g coconut butter
¼ cup of chilled water
“Basically Butter” Mash:
700g white potatoes
500g unsalted butter, softened
½ cup heavy cream
Salt and white pepper to taste
Wild Pea Pesto:
1 cup wild pea tops
½ cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 garlic clove
¼ cup fresh coriander
Salt and black pepper
1 cup olive oil
Method:
- Preheat a large grill pan on high heat until smoking and Preheat oven to 180C.
- For the filling, place the water into a pressure cooker on sauté setting to heat up.
- Season steaks generously with salt and freshly ground pepper. Add steaks to the pan whole and and grill until nicely browned and charred. Chop the steaks into large chunks then transfer to the pressure cooker. Cover and cook on high pressure for 25 minutes. Transfer the steaks into a baking tray to cool. Make sure you cover the steaks with the braising liquid to ensure it doesn’t dry out. Set aside.
- Drizzle some olive oil into a frying pan and add the sliced onion over medium high heat. Cook until dark brown and slightly charred. Remove from the heat and put into a bowl. Set aside.
- Place a knob of butter, a drizzle of olive oil, diced onions, garlic, carrots, celery, herbs into the same pan. Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until all the vegetables are nice and soft. Add the milk stout and allow to simmer for 25 minutes with the lid on.
- Add the chuck and about 2 cups of the braising liquid along with 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce, the white port and a dash of red wine vinegar.
- To thicken the sauce mix together 2 tablespoons of butter with a quarter cup of flour to form a paste. Stir into the pie mixture and bring to the boil stirring constantly until thickened. Add seasoning and taste. At this stage you can adjust according to taste. Spread the mixture out onto a large baking tray and chill completely before using.
- For the Blue Cheese pastry, place the plain flour, blue cheese, butter and coconut butter into a food processor and pulse to a sandy texture. With the food processor running, slowly add the chilled water, until the dough just starts to pull into a ball. Be careful not to add too much water. Blue cheese has a high liquid content and too much water will result in the pastry being too wet.
- Transfer the mixture onto a lightly floured work bench and bring together into a ball. Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes to rest the pastry.
- Roll out one of the parts of pastry on a lightly floured surface, large enough to line the base of your pie tin. I normally use a shallow pie dish that is about 20cm in diameter.
- Next, Spoon the cooled pie filling into the pie base. The filling might look substantial but the idea is to create a mound in the centre, so don’t be shy.
- Roll out the remaining dough on a lightly floured surface to form the lid of the pie. Using a 3cm round pastry cutter (a shooter glass will also do), cut a hole in the centre of the pastry before placing it on top of the pie. Carefully drape the dough over the filling, ensuring the hole is in the centre. Using a sharp knife, slice away the excess dough using the edge of the pie tin as a guide. Press and crimp around the edge of the pie to seal (use a little bit of water to make sure it sticks together properly).
- You can use the remaining pastry to decorate your pie to your hearts content!
- Bake your glorious pie until the crust is deep golden brown. This will be approximately 55-60 minutes. Keep your eye on it! This pie is too delicious to burn. Remove from the oven and allow the pie to rest for 15 minutes.
- For the mash, peel the potatoes and cut into quarters and steam until soft.
- Place into a mixing bowl and whisk in the butter a little at a time until melted and fully incorporated. Add enough cream until the texture is thick but almost pourable. Season to taste and set aside.
- For the pesto, add the pea tops, parmesan cheese, garlic clove, coriander and seasoning into a food processor. Pulse together while slowly pouring the olive oil in until your desired consistency is reached.
- Now that all the elements are complete, serve on a platter and enjoy!