Stew/steak pie

stormbreaker

Good morning, can anyone please point me in the direction of a tried and tested stew recipe. I don't normally do the cooking but have a notion to start

I intend doing a batch cook and freezing in my newly acquired Pyrex dishes.

I am going to buy shop made pastry in the first instance and place ove the cooled stew before freezing.

Thanks

bouicca21

A basic stew recipe is dead easy. Meat, onions, maybe garlic and a pepper, maybe chopped or grated carrot and a stick or two of celery. Some people would give onion, garlic and meat a bit of a fry, some wouldn't, it makes not a lot of difference. Add water, some tomato paste and a stock cube. Cook together until meat is tender.

Thicken the gravy either by tossing the meat in flour before you start cooking, or by using cornflour once the stew is cooked.

If the stew is beef, Substituting beer for half to all the water acts as a tenderiser and makes for a richer taste.

For making into pies, I'd batch freeze without pastry and cook the pastry separately as and when needed. If buying frozen, IMHO puff makes a better lid than shortcrust.

The alternative is to make plate pies - shortcrust on the bottom, dollop in filling, put on lid of either shortcrust or puff.

I've never succeeded with making my own puff or flaky pastry, but shortcrust is a doddle. Make a big batch up to breadcrumb stage and you have the equivalent of a shop bought pastry mix. Just take out what you need as and when you need it.

suki1964

That's what we had for dinner last night, was scrummy

I cook on the hob as it's cheaper and only uses one pan as I brown off the meat first

I toss the cubed beef in seasoned flour and fry it in the hot pan till brown. Remove then brown off an onion or two and a couple of sliced carrots. Use a dash of red wine to deglaze the pan, stick in a stock pot, some water, a bay leaf and return the meat and simmer ( as low as you can) for a couple of hours. I then add mushrooms and if I'm making them dumplings

Left over stew ( minus the dumplings) gets put in a pie dish and topped with a suet pastry for pie another day

I always find that the cheaper stewing beef is best for long slow cooking. Braising beef doesn't have enough fat in it and can become very dry and crumbly rather then melt in the mouth tender

SailorSam

I always get bags of mixed frozen veg and just get as much as i need out.

Callie22

I like Jamie Oliver's 'Jools' Favourite Stew' - you don't need to make the lemon/rosemary/garlic topping. When I make this, I tend to portion out some of it into little pie dishes once it's done, and then top it off with some puff-pastry to make a little pie - the stew gets much tastier when it's been in the fridge for a day or so.

Seanymph

Do you have a slow cooker? Can't go wrong.

Stewing beef, onion, carrot - two oxo cubes, water, a squirt of tomatoe puree. Put it on to be bubbly, let it do that for about 6 hours in a slow cooker, or two on the hob. gently bubbly.

Then thicken - throw in granules, use bisto powder (mix with cold water, stir in) or cornflour (mix with cold water stir in).

Easy peasy.

Mess with all sorts of other things once you've had a go and done it ok.

meritaten

I can give you my recipe for steak pie filling which I make more than I need and the next day it magically turns into beef stew!

Steak pie filling
Diced beef - large pack or about 750gms
large onion
mushrooms
bottle of ale (I like Hobgoblin but Newcastle Brown is a good alternative - or you can use 'stout', Guinness or Murphys)
couple of beef stock cubes.
some pepper if you like
and a good few shakes of Worster sauce

brown the meat and then the onions and mushrooms (you can use garlic too if you like).
put into either a casserole dish or slow cooker
deglaze the pan with a little hot water or the beer
add the stock cubes to dissolve
tip into the meat and onions and add worster sauce and pepper.
cook until the meat is tender and the gravy thickened.
for the pie - I use a sheet of ready rolled puff pastry cut into portions and brushed with milk and put in a hot oven for about ten mins . serve on top of the pie filling
with whats leftover
potatoes
carrots
another onion
(and any other veg of your choice such as leeks, swede, parsnips and peas) add to the pie filling top up with water and another stock cube or two and bring almost to the boil - simmer for about an hour and if you want to add dumplings then add them for another twenty minutes. a gorgeous beef 'stew'!

Rainy-Days

Delia's steak pie is one of the very best I have tried.

As for stew:-

Diced beef
1 large onion (cut into half then sliced but not diced)
three carrots chopped
2 Parsnips
half a swede
Maybe three sticks of celery - it's up to you on that
My dad as a Welshman loved potatoes in his but thats optional - and they can go mushy so add them to last half an hour of cooking time if you are doing them!

Good seasoning of salt and also a bit of black pepper. A Knorr stock pot for beef. Tablespoon of tomato puree. Table spoon or Worcestershire sauce and a kettle of boiling hot water to cover it all.

My utter fave is pearl barley - I always pop maybe a good tablespoon and a half of it into the stew - just adds something to it. I just feel it's not right without it!

A big saucepan with a hefty lid, bring it alll to the boil and leave to simmer for an hour.

meritaten

Rainy-Days wrote: »

Delia's steak pie is one of the very best I have tried.

As for stew:-

Diced beef
1 large onion (cut into half then sliced but not diced)
three carrots chopped
2 Parsnips
half a swede
Maybe three sticks of celery - it's up to you on that
My dad as a Welshman loved potatoes in his but thats optional - and they can go mushy so add them to last half an hour of cooking time if you are doing them!

Good seasoning of salt and also a bit of black pepper. A Knorr stock pot for beef. Tablespoon of tomato puree. Table spoon or Worcestershire sauce and a kettle of boiling hot water to cover it all.

My utter fave is pearl barley - I always pop maybe a good tablespoon and a half of it into the stew - just adds something to it. I just feel it's not right without it!

A big saucepan with a hefty lid, bring it alll to the boil and leave to simmer for an hour.

I do my potatoes separately - but for ' next day stew' they taste much better warmed up with the stew.
and if making Cawl (Welsh Stew), you make it the day before with lamb (not beef) and it needs at least 4 to 6 hours simmering anyway. and you must use Leeks, onions and carrots for the base. Then brought up to just boiling point and simmered again. but you use the very cheap cuts such as neck of lamb or mutton if you can get it. and you can then add whatever veg is in season.

Pollycat

I cook the meat for my pie in the slow cooker.

I toss the cubed steak in seasoned flour - I don't brown it.
I add onions, chopped mushrooms and potatoes - diced quite small.
I can never decide whether to do a meat & potato pie or beef & mushroom so do both together.
Beef stock cube, bay leaf, mixed herbs, worcester sauce.

I do quite a lot of stock as I leave the liquid in the slow cooker after removing the meat & veg, topping with pastry and popping into the oven - I thicken the liquid whilst the pie is cooking.

I sometimes add a little bit of blue Stilton to the filling ust before putting the pastry lid on, that makes it rich.

Personally, I would freeze the bases and then add pastry when you're ready to cook.

lollyfin

I make mine in the slow cooker. Beef, gravy granules and enough water to cover and a white pudding (it thickens and flavours the gravy really nicely). If I'm short of beef or just feel like it I add chopped up sausages as well. I make loads of this and the first day it's steak pie with pastry then I add lots of chunky veg and day 2 it's stew then if there's enough left I add loads of potatoes and make stovies