“Being Irish, it won’t be a surprise that I love Guinness or that I love pies,” says Nathan Anthony. “Traditionally made pies can be a bit of a labour of love, but this is the easiest pie recipe you’ll ever make – just throw it in, let it cook away during the day, add a pastry lid and serve. It’s honestly that easy.”
Ingredients:
(Serves 6)
800g beef steak or rump (or 1kg brisket), chopped
440ml can of Guinness
200ml beef stock
1tbsp tomato purée
1tsp dried rosemary
1tsp dried thyme
1tsp dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1tbsp brown sugar
2 carrots, roughly chopped
1 red onion, chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
1 heaped tbsp cornflour
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 sheet of ready-rolled puff pastry
1 egg, beaten, to glaze the pastry
Salt and pepper, to taste
Tenderstem broccoli, and carrot and parsnip mash, to serve (optional)
Method:
1. Throw all the ingredients, except the pastry and egg, in the slow cooker.
2. Cook on high for four hours or low for seven to eight hours. Discard the bay leaf.
3 Preheat the oven to 200°C. Top the beef filling with the puff pastry, tuck it round the pie, then brush with the beaten egg.
4. Pop the ovenproof slow-cooker pot (without the lid) into the oven for 25 minutes until golden and crisp. If your slow-cooker pot isn’t oven-safe, decant the filling into an ovenproof pot, cover with the pastry, brush with the egg and bake as above.
5. Serve with Tenderstem broccoli, and carrot and parsnip mash, if you like.
Tip: To get the pastry the right size, put your slow cooker lid on top of your puff pastry sheet and cut round it before adding to the slow cooker.
Bored Of Lunch: Healthy Slow Cooker Even Easier by Nathan Anthony is published by Ebury Press, priced £20. Photography by Dan Jones. Available now