Serves 4

The filling for this pie is cooked long and slow, tenderising the beef and allowing the flavour of the Guinness to permeate it. You could prepare the filling a day in advance. For this pie I use a traditional shortcrust pastry, but you could use a puff pastry as an alternative.

750g lean braising steak, eg, skirt of beef
4 tbsp plain flour
Freshly ground salt and pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp tomato purée
500ml Guinness
350g shallots, peeled
Few sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves, peeled
500g shortcrust pastry
1 free-range egg yolk mixed with
1 tbsp water

1 Dice the beef into 2.5cm cubes. Place the flour in a medium-sized bowl and season well with salt and pepper. Roll the beef in the flour to coat.
2 Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the beef until golden brown in colour. Add the tomato purée and cook for 1 minute, stirring well. Then pour in the Guinness and add the shallot, thyme, bay leaf and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 1½ hours. Remove the bay leaf and discard.
3 Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6.
4 Transfer the meat to a 20cm pie dish 5-7cm deep.
5 Roll out the pastry and cover the pie. Scrunch the pastry to the edge of the dish and trim around the edge, leaving 1-2cm overhanging. Brush the top with the egg.
6 Transfer to a baking tray and place in the oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes and serve immediately.

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