First, Ramis offered them a welcoming drink—Navy ships were all supposedly dry. “Just a spot of sherry to be social that the Navy brass doesn’t need to concern themselves with.”
Over a starter of creamy potato-and-leek soup, Ramis discussed the ship’s proud history, starting at the Battle of Peleliu she’d been named for where two thousand Marines died and another eight thousand were wounded while clearing that South Pacific island of twelve thousand Japanese, few of whom had survived.
The entrée of individual steak-and-ale pies—
“Chef insists on using Guinness but steak-and-stout pie doesn’t have quite the proper ring, does it?”
—covered her twenty-year peacetime service history. And the dessert topic, the ship’s fourteen years ducking in and out of the Dustbowl wars of Southwest Asia and other duties.
Of the nine years since her decommissioning all he said was, “I took command the year of her retirement. My assignment, to see her properly put to rest, was preempted by you Special Operations lot taking her on as a mobile operations platform. Seen a fair bit of the world since then, I must say.”
After tea, with milk recommended, during which he offered a brief talk on the proper technique for dunking shortbread biscuits, he concluded with, “You may think me an awfully dry bird.”
Troy managed to bite back his automatic agreement. Others caught themselves with less grace, but Ramis merely nodded to himself as if confirming his own truth.NOTE: We don’t claim to match the amazing steak-and-ale pies we’ve eaten during visits to the UK, but we’re very pleased with this one. We Yorkshire-ized it a bit, invited in a dash of the Irish, considered Norwegian beer-braised beef (decided that rye noodles were simply silly), and ignored every prompt to go Italian (tomato and Balsamic) or Asian (tamarind and as much dates as meat). In other words, we had a grand time of it.
Active time: 1 hour / Cook time: 2-1/2 hours / Total time: 3-1/2 hours / Serves: 4
Ingredients to Get It Going
- 8 oz. bacon
- 2 lb. stewing or round steak, or boneless chuck, cut into 1” cubes
- 1 Tbsp. high-temperature oil (Canola or vegetable)
- 1 lg. white onion, chopped coarse (about 2 c.)
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 3-1/2 Tbsp. flour
- 2 - 12 oz. bottles of dark ale (or a stout like Guinness)
The Veggies+ (combine all in one large bowl)
- 12 oz. cremini mushrooms, quartered
- 2 lg. carrots, diced
- 3 Tbsp. raisins or 4 oz. chopped dates (optional, but we like the sweetness)
The Sauce (combine all in a small bowl)
- 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 tsp. dried thyme (2 Tbsp. fresh)
- 2 tsp. brown sugar
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
The Finishing
- Puff pastry sheets (keep in freezer until needed)
- Beaten egg, to glaze the piecrust (if you’re feeling fancy)
The Filling
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Dry the meat with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.
- In a Dutch oven, cook the bacon. Remove, leaving 2-3 Tbsp. fat. Reserve extra fat. Coarse chop and add the bacon to the large “Veggies+” bowl.
- Brown the meat on high in 2-3 batches or it won’t brown properly (3-5 minutes / batch). (In a single batch, the released juices will steam the meat rather than evaporating to allow browning.) Tip: Nudge the meat with a wooden spoon or spatula. If still stuck to the bottom, it hasn’t browned enough yet. When browned, it releases easily. (But wait too long and it sticks again as it burns onto the pot.)
- Remove the meat to the “Veggies+” bowl.
- Turn down to medium-high. Add 1-2 Tbsp. of reserved bacon fat (or use Canola or vegetable oil if not enough).
- Add the onion. Sauté until the edges just start to go translucent (about 2 minutes).
- Add the garlic, sauté for 20 seconds until fragrant.
- Add the flour, and stir well for 1 minute. Some may stick to the bottom, that’s okay.
- Add the ale, slowly at first (seriously, just a splash, then another), and mix well to start building the gravy and scraping lightly at any bits stuck to the bottom. Again, don’t worry about any that remain stuck.
- Once it fully loosens, add the rest of the ale and bring to a boil.
- Add the “Veggies+” and the Sauce bowls to the onions and ale.
- Mix well, cover (with a sheet of aluminum foil under the lid unless it is heavy and fully sealed), and put in oven. Cook 2 hours or until meat is tender.
The Finishing
- Remove from oven. Turn the oven up to 425°F.
- Remove the bay leaf. Taste and tune the salt and pepper. (Especially the latter. If you feel the sauce is missing “something”, it’s probably pepper.)
- Divide into four 5” ramekins (or similar).
- Let sit, allowing the filling to cool a bit, or it will simply melt the puff pastry lid.
- If the gravy is thin (it really shouldn’t be):
- Use a slotted spoon to remove most of the meat and vegetables into the ramekins.
- Pour the too-thin gravy into a large measuring cup. For every 1 cup of too-thin gravy combine in the pot over medium heat:
- 1 Tbsp. melted butter
- 1 Tbsp. flour
-If it only needs a little thickening, halve these amounts.
- Once melted and mixed well, dribble in the too-thin gravy (lumps form if you go too fast), stirring briskly. It will form a clumpy, frothy paste but will thin out as you continue to add liquid. Simmer for 2-3 minutes to remove the floury taste.
- Pour your thicker gravy evenly into the 4 ramekins. Stir gently to make sure the gravy is well dispersed. Avoid getting any liquid on the edges of the ramekins as this will break the seal of the lid.
- Thaw the puff pastry per the package directions. Tip: Work the pastry fast, keep as cool as possible, and don’t overwork it or it won’t puff when baked.
- Roll out on a lightly floured surface until you can make at least two circles big enough to cover your ramekins plus 1/4” all around the circumference. (You may need a second sheet depending on the pastry brand and how thin you rolled it out. Some people cut it 1/4” under-sized and rest it directly on the filling with an air gap all around. The wicked scamps.)
- Quickly spread the pastry over the partly cooled filling and crimp it around the edges to seal the pie. (To keep the pastry as chilled as possible, tuck the pre-cut lids into the fridge after you cut them out, then take out and cover all the pies at once.)
- Poke a hole in the crust with a sharp knife to vent steam.
- Now’s the time to brush on the beaten egg, if you’re planning on a golden finish.
- Bake on a cookie sheet (to catch drips) until golden brown, 20-25 minutes.
- Fun Bonus: After you cut your lids but before you cover your pies: mush your leftover pastry cutoffs into a thinnish disk and toss in the freezer for 1-2 minutes. Roll it out into 5” circles (squares, hexagons…), plop a Tbsp. or two of your favorite jam or some applesauce in the middle, then fold in half, crimping the edges to seal. Toss these on the cookie sheet along with the pies. A sweet after-dinner puff-pastry treat.
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A filled pie with the slightly larger lid ready to crimp. |
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A luscious pair of pies. Note the open edge due to my poor crimping job. This was just for us, so we didn’t bother with the beaten egg glaze.
1 comment
sounds delicious, plan to try it