Melt in the mouth slow cooked beef in a rich gravy topped with crusty pastry. This recipe makes four family sized pies, one for eating and three to go in the freezer for quick and easy meals later. Each portion comes in at a budget friendly 89p.
Ingredients and Tools:
1.15 kg Beef Joint £5.73
1kg Onions 57p
Mushrooms £1.40
1 Bulb Garlic 13p
Tomato Puree 31p
Ale 89p
Worcestershire Sauce 65p
4 Cubes Beef Stock 12p
800g Plain Flour 30p
450g Butter 63p
Total = £10.73 / 12 portions = 89p per portion
Food purchased from Aldi
I earn a small commission when products are purchased through the links I post here (at no additional cost to you).
Dice up the beef and pop it in the slow cooker.
Add some flour and mix until the beef chunks are well coated.
Chop the garlic.
And dice the onions.
Add them to a pan and fry until soft.
Chop up the mushrooms.
Add them to the slow cooker along with four beef stock cubes.
Then add a tube of tomato puree.
Pour on a bottle of Worcestershire sauce.
And add a bottle of ale. Dark ale is best but just about any real ale will do.
Give it a good mix and leave it to cook on low for 6 - 10 hours.
Just look at that rich gravy!
For the pastry weigh out 800g of plain flour.
Add 450g of butter.
Add a little water, literally just the smallest splash and mix.
You can split the dough into smaller chunks to make it easier to work with. Put the chunks you aren't working with in the fridge to keep them cool.
Roll out the dough.
Ladle the stew into freezer and oven proof pie dishes. Cover it with rolled pastry.
Roll the rolling pin over the top of the pie dish to "cut" away the excess pastry.
Instead of wasting any leftover bits of pastry you can cut them into shapes and pop them on to of the pie crust. I happened to have some heart shaped biscuit cutters handy.
Brush the top of the pastry with milk and / or egg.
Bake it in the oven for about 40 minutes until the crust is golden brown.
Here it is served with carrots, sweet corn and broccoli.
Here are some of my other pie recipes for you to try:
#simplycrafting #homecooking #budgetrecipe #batchcooking #mealprep #slowcookerrecipe #homecooking #budgetrecipe #healthyeating #healthyeatingideas #healthyeatingforlife #healthyeatingonabudget #healthycooking #healthyrecipe