On Reddit I found a great little recipe for Mini Steak and Ale Pies.  These looked delicious, and also seemed pretty simple to do.  That being said, I am a lazy, lazy man and didn’t want to sit over the stove to cook it all.  So I took the recipe and modified it so I could make it in my slow cooker overnight (minus the baking part, but the cooking of the steak and the braising afterwards were all done in the slow cooker to save myself from standing over the stove and watching it).

I have included the recipe, which I tweaked slightly, below.

Ingredients:

• 2 Rump Steaks 2.1 lbs Beef Bottom Chuck Roast (Boneless) ~ 910 grams after trimming and slicing
• 50 grams chopped onions (half an onion) 1 Medium Yellow Onion, Chopped ~ 100 grams
• 4 shallots, quartered 2 Large Shallots, Chopped ~ 200 grams
• 2 4 Garlic Cloves, Crushed~ 25 grams
• 1 Tbsp Thyme ~ 2 grams
• 1 Tbsp Rosemary ~ 2 grams
• 2 3 Tbsp Tomato Puree Paste
• 2 3 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 350ml Beef Stock
• 250ml Ale Lager
• 2 3 Sheets Puff Pastry
• 3 Tbsp Olive Oil (for saute of vegetables)

Directions:

1. Cut the steak into even squares, a little less than .5″ on each side (~1 cm called for in original recipe).  Season the cubes with a LITTLE salt and some pepper.
2. Brown the steak in a pan.  I did not need to use flour to get good browning, but you can dredge the meat in flour if you’d like. Drain the liquid constantly while you’re browning the meat.  No need to reserve the liquid, we don’t need it.
3. Set aside the steak and saute the onions, shallots, garlic, rosemary, and thyme until the onions have softened and turned slightly golden.  We don’t want them dry, but we do want them to take on some darker color.  Darker color is flavor.  Flavor is good.
4. Once the mixture from step 3 is done cooking, use the beef stock and lager to deglaze the pan you cooked them in.
5. Add the steak, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, vegetables (with beef stock and lager) to your slow cooker.  Cook on high ~ 4 hours.
6. About an hour to two hours before the mixture from step 5 is done, take the puff pastry out of the freezer to let it thaw out.
7. Remove the steak and vegetables from the slow cooker when it is done cooking as per step 5.
8. Take the liquid remaining from step 7 and put it into a pan.  Reduce it by half over medium to high heat.
9. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit while you’re doing step 8.
10. Use a large cup to cut out circles of puff pastry for the bottom of the muffin tin.
11. Apply a thin coating of non-stick spray or oil to the muffin tin.
12. Place the puff pastry bases from step 10 into the slots in the tin.
13. Use a smaller cup to cut out circles of puff pastry for the tops of the pies (or do like I did if you didn’t have a spare sheet: make a cross pattern).
14. Beat the egg with 1 Tbsp of water for the topping of the puff pastry sheets.
15. Place the meat mixture into the muffin tins filled with puff pastry from step 12.
16. Put the reduced sauce from step 8 on top of the filling.
17. Place the tops of the puff pastry sheets from step 13 on top of the meat and sauce filled muffin tins from step 15.
    1. If you have full tops, be sure to pierce the tops with a fork or knife before moving to step 18.  If you made a cross pattern you won’t need to do this.
18. Apply egg wash from step 14 to the top of the now prepared pies.
19. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, rotating in the oven every 5 to 10 minutes.
20. Let cool for approximately 30 minutes after baking.
21. Use a knife to free the pies from the muffin tin by running it along the edges.
22. Enjoy!

This is the result of having only 2 puff pasty sheets: I did not have enough to make full tops.  So I made cross patterns.  You could probably roll out the two sheets and accomplish the same effect, but like I said: I’m lazy.  I used the sheets as they were in the box without any other prep (other than cutting the shapes out).

These are super tasty and portable nommables.

Nutrition information for the filling is:

Nutrition information for the completed pies is:

Enjoy!

-M