How to Bake Beef and Oyster Pie

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 1 hour 30 mins

Ingredients needed to make Beef and Oyster Pie:

For the filling:

• 2 lb stewing beef, chopped into 1 ¼’’ cubes
• 8 oysters, freshly shucked
• 4 ½ oz smoked bacon rashers, rindless and sliced into ½’’ strips
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 3 shallots, quartered
• 2 tbsp cornflour, dissolved in 2 tbsp water
• 14 fl oz beef stock
• 11 fl oz stout
• 3 tbsp sunflower oil
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp thyme leaves, coarsely chopped
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the pastry:

• 14 oz all purpose flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 9 oz unsalted butter
• ¼ tsp salt

Cooking instructions for Beef and Oyster Pie:

• Toss the beef chunks with a dash of seasonings until well coated and set aside.
• Pour in a tbsp oil in a skillet and throw in the seasoned meat, few at a time, into it.
• Cook the meat, stirring often, until they are evenly browned and set aside in an ovenproof casserole dish.
• Heat another tbsp oil in another skillet and toss the chopped shallots into it.
• Stir fry for 4-5 minutes and throw in the garlic.
• Sauté briskly for half a minute and stir in the bacons.
• Fry them together until the bacons brown slightly and tip the mixture into the same dish.
• Sprinkle the herbs over the mixture and set aside.
• Warm up your oven to 350 degrees F.
• Bring the stout to a boil in a clean frying pan and drizzle it over the beef mixture.
• Wrap the surface with foil and roast in the oven for a couple of hours or until the beef is cooked through and the sauce thickens.
• Skim off any fat accumulated on the surface of the filling and adjust the seasonings as required.
• Whisk in the cornflour slurry until they blend thoroughly without forming any lumps.
• Place the casserole dish on the stovetop and bring it to a simmer.
• Continue to do so for a couple of minutes, stirring often, until the sauce thickens further and set aside until it cools down completely.
• Increase the temperature setting to 400 degrees F and warm it up further.
• For the pastry, mix the salt into the flour and grate the butter over it.
• Pour in 11 fl oz water into it gradually while stirring it into the mixture with a blunt knife, until they blend properly and clump together to form a smooth dough.
• Knead it on a lightly floured working counter into a round ball and pinch out 9 oz of it; set aside.
• Roll rest of the dough into a flat circle, about ¾’’ wider than the pie mold and spread it onto the base of the mold.
• Fill it up with the beef stuffing and scatter the oysters over it.
• Paint the pastry edges with a lashing of beaten egg and set aside.
• Roll the reserved piece of dough out into a flat round, slightly wider than the mold, and place it on top of the filling.
• Pinch the ends together to secure and slice off the edges overhanging from the pan.
• Smother the surface with a lashing of rest of the egg wash and bake in the oven for half an hour or until the surface turns golden brown.
• Serve warm.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons