Gluten-Free Beef & Ale Pies – Perfect Comfort Pub Food!
Nothing beats a homemade savoury pie filled with tender beef cooked slowly in ale, onions, carrots and mushrooms. The gluten-free flaky & buttery pastry crisps up nicely as a lid to the beef filling.
Irish Comfort Food
This is perfect comfort food for those cold days or to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day! In fact, I was very tempted to call this dish “Beef and Guinness Pie” to honour this day celebrated on 17th March, but as Guinness doesn’t have a gluten-free range (yet!), I resorted to using one of the many gluten-free beers available, the darker the better. This gives the beef an added boost in flavour.
Can I make the beef & ale pie filling the day before?
Preparing the beef filling the day before will deepen the flavours. Slow cooking the beef filling in the oven takes between 2 to 3 hours to become fork-tender. However, if you prefer to slow cook the beef in a slow cooker/crockpot, this is a practical cooking method to use when planning ahead, especially if left on LOW overnight for a maximum of 8 hours.
Can the gluten-free pastry be made the day before?
This is perfectly fine to make ahead of time. Make sure to wrap the pastry well in plastic film and keep it away from any strong-smelling food stored in the fridge. Bring out the pastry to room temperature an hour before assembling the pie.
Gluten-Free Beef & Ale Pies
Nothing beats a homemade savoury pie filled with tender beef cooked in ale, onions, carrots and mushrooms. The gluten-free flaky & buttery pastry crisps up nicely as a lid to the beef filling. Using gluten-free beer, the darker the better, gives the beef an added boost.This is perfect comfort food for those cold days or to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!
Ingredients
Beef & Ale Pie Filling
- 1.3 kg beef stewing meat (goulash meat in Austria) or beef cheeks, cut into 3cm pieces
- 3 tbsp cornflour Known as cornflour in the UK and corn or maize starch in the USA
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp butter
- 1 leek or large onion, sliced thinly
- 4 carrots, sliced
- 400 g brown or white mushrooms, quartered
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tsp fresh thyme
- or
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 sprig of fresh thyme (optional)
- 330 ml gluten-free beer (the darker, the better)
- 500 ml store-bought or homemade beef stock
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp Tamari or gluten-free Worcestershire sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 handful of fresh parsley
- salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
Gluten-Free Flaky Pastry
- 200 g store-bought or homemade gluten-free plain flour
- 200 g butter, cold and cut into small pieces
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 3 tsp gluten-free baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 80-100 ml water, ice-cold
- 4 drops of lemon juice
Egg Wash
- 1 egg yolk mixed with a pinch of salt
- 1 tsp water
Instructions
Beef & Ale Pie Filling
- Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F.
- Mix the cornflour with the salt and white pepper in a medium bowl.
- Using a paper towel, dry the beef pieces to remove any excess moisture.
- Add the beef pieces to the cornflour mixture and coat them well. Alternatively, the beef can be flour-coated in a clean plastic bag by shaking the bag. This gives a very even coating.
- Heat a deep oven-proof casserole dish or Dutch oven to med-high heat.
- Add the olive oil, followed by the beef in several batches. I use an extra frying pan to fry the additional batches to speed up this step.
- Once the beef is seared on all sides, remove and cover the beef to a plate, and turn down the heat to medium.
- Add the butter and leeks or onions. Fry for 5 minutes, stirring often.
- Add the carrots, mushrooms, garlic and thyme leaves. Fry for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Return the seared beef pieces to the pot and add the beer, stirring well and scraping the bottom of the pot for any residue.
- Add the beef stock and tomato paste, Tamari or Worcestershire sauce and bay leaf, mixing well.
- Add the whole sprig of thyme and cover the pot with a secure oven-proof lid and place it in the preheated oven on the lowest shelf.
- Slow cook the beef for 2 hours stirring occasionally. After 2 hours, The beef should fall apart if pressed with a fork. If not, allow another 30 minutes or longer to get to this tender stage.
- Add the parsley, salt and pepper, taste and add more seasoning if needed.
GLUTEN-FREE FLAKY PASTRY
- Sift the gluten-free plain flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl.
- Rub in the cold butter pieces using the tip of your fingers until the flour appears like breadcrumbs.
- Add the cold water and lemon juice gradually, mixing well with a wooden spoon or use a dough hook if using a bench mixer.
- Mould the dough into a disc shape and cover it with plastic film. Refrigerate the dough for 10 minutes.
Assembling the pies
- Increase the oven temperature to 230°C/450°F.
- Roll out the pastry to ½ cm thick between two sheets of baking paper.
- Cut out a circle slightly larger than the pie dish.
- Press a small round cookie cutter in the middle of the pastry circle. Alternatively, use your knife to form a small circle. This is important as it lets out the steam from the beef filling while baking.
- Fill each pie dish with the beef and ale filling.
- Place the pastry circle onto the top of each pie dish and pinch or press down the edge of the pastry onto the pie dish.
- For a decorative touch, using a clover-shaped cutter, cut out several clovers from the excess pastry.
- Mix the egg yolk, salt and water to create an egg wash.
- Brush each pastry top with the egg wash.
Baking the pies
- Bake the beef & ale pies in the oven on the middle shelf for 8 minutes.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 200°C/400°F and bake the pies for a further 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Allow to cool down slightly before serving with some steamed potatoes, peas and your favourite condiments.
Notes
- Keeps for 3 days chilled
- Beef & ale filling is suitable to freeze
- Uncooked gluten-free flaky pastry is suitable to freeze
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