Steak and ale pie with plump Malbec

I came to London in 2002 and now as I stand on the eve of my return to South Africa, I’m celebrating all the good times I’ve had and friends I’ve made whilst living in this crazy city where anything and everything goes and you can find anything you’re looking for almost instantaneously… I wanted to do something truly British for this post and with British Pie week coming up, I decided to make a lovely pie!

Here are the result…to be fair it isn’t the prettiest of efforts but hey, it sure tasted good! This pie doesn’t have any pastry at the bottom, hence the name Pot Pie, and I must admit I missed it when we had this for lunch.  The sauce is a super rich and could do with the addition of a layer of fluffy, creamy mash. I would also serve some lovely sugar snaps or green beans with it.

Now to drink, I wanted to suggest a lovely full bodied English red but this proved harder to come by so I settled for a South African wine estate owned by an Englishman. Dennis Kerrison has owned the estate in Wellington, called Doolhof since 2003 but the first vines were planted in 1995. The name means Labyrinth, in Afrikaans, and in Greek mythology was designed for King Minos of Crete. It was designed to hold the Minotaur, a  mythical half man/half bull, which was eventually killed by the Athenean hero, Theseus. Unlike a maze which is designed to be a puzzle with a choice of paths a Labyrinth only has one entrance and one exit with single circular route which can be used for meditative purposes. This estate offers an interesting range of wines but it was a Malbec 2009 from the Signatures range, that caught my eye…

Malbec produces a deep purple wine which is known for traditionally being one of the six grape varieties used in Bordeaux.  Where in Bordeaux and in the Loire Valley it is used for blending, in Cahors in the South West France it is the main grape variety.  The AOC states that at least 70% of the blend has to be Côt Noir, as its called in the region with the rest being either Merlot or Tannat and can be quite tannic when young and benefits from ageing. In recent years Malbec has been taken to the New World where the grape variety has adapted beautifully, producing softer, plumper wines with less tannins. This is what I found when tasting this Malbec which recently received a Decanter gold medal to have with my delicious pie. This wine is a lovely range of fruit like dark cherries and prune with hints of violet but also has a savoury element of rosemary and sage which complimented the meal wonderfully…

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Recipe:

900g stewing steak, trimmed and diced
25g flour, plus extra for dusting
50g butter
1 onions chopped
2 cloves of garlic
2 medium carrots
2 tsp dried time
500ml good-quality ale ( I used London Pride)
50ml Worcestershire sauce
500ml beef stock
Salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten for glazing
300g ready-made rolled puff pastry

• Take your meat, trim and cut into cubes.
• Pour flour into bowl and season well.
• Coat the meat with seasoned flour.
• Melt butter and brown the beef in a large pot.
• Add the onion, carrots, garlic, time, ale and stock.
• Simmer for 1 hour until meat is tender, add Worchestire sauce.
• Brush the edges of dish with beaten egg.
• Pour into oven proof serving dish.
• Roll the pastry with as little flour as possible.
• Place pastry over the dish, pinching the edges
• Place dish in 180°C pre-heated oven.
• Brush with the rest of the beaten egg.
• Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is cooked through and golden brown.

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