Steak and Kidney Pie is one of our favourite meals. So we thought we’d add a little surprise to it to make it better (it’s whiskey).

Ingredients

Rough Puff Pastry

• 350g of plain flour
• 1 large pinch of sea salt (none of that table salt)
• 300g of cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 150ml of cold water
• 2 teaspoons of lemon juice
• 1 beaten egg for glazing

Pie Filling

• 50mls of vegetable oil
• 50g of butter
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 200g of white button mushrooms
• 50g of plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper (sea salt and freshly ground pepper, only the best)
• 750g of round steak, cut into chunks (shoulder or rump)
• 200g of ox kidney, cut it into bite sized pieces
• 250mls of beef stock
• 70mls of Glendalough 13 year old single malt whisky (or any whiskey of your choice)
• 50mls Worcester sauce
• 1 teaspoon of tomato pureé
• 1 teaspoon of dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves

Beurre Manié

Mix 50g of plain flour with 50g of butter to form a paste. This paste can be used to thicken sauces and soups.

Making the Pastry and Pie Filling

Rough Puff Pastry

Now you can use a store bought puff pastry for this but where is the fun in that? Follow these steps to make your own delicious puff pastry.

1. Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl and add butter.
2. Make sure to mix the butter into the flour so that it is coated.
3. Mix water and lemon juice in a bowl and add to the flour mix.
4. Cut the butter into the bowl with a knife, until it forms dough. (Don’t worry if there are still bits of butter showing in the dough)
5. Flour a surface and roll the dough into a rectangle roughly 1cm thick.
6. Fold the top third down to the centre and the bottom third up over that. Seal the open edges with a rolling pin.
7. Give the dough half a turn then roll it out like step 6.
8. Repeat steps 7 & 8 an additional 4 times. (keep the board and pin well-floured)
9. Place the pastry into a polythene bag or wrap it in cling film and place it in the fridge for up to an hour (preferably overnight) to rest and firm up
10. Allow the pastry to warm up for about 30 minutes before you need to use it.

Steak and Kidney Pie 

1. Add half the vegetable oil and butter to a heated large lidded pan.
2. Cook the onion gently for around 8 minutes until it is soft
3. Add and cook the mushrooms for 2 minutes, then remove mushrooms and onions, set them aside for later
4. Put the steak and seasoned flour into a polythene bag and toss until the steak is lightly coated
5. Add the rest of the butter and oil to the pan, heat and cook the steak and kidneys until they are no longer pink
6. Put the mushrooms and onions back into the pan and add the rest of the ingredients, bring it to a boil while stirring it well
7. Cover the pan and cook it gently for 1 hours making sure to stir it occasionally until the meat is tender
8. Get rid of the bay leaves and if the gravy is thick enough then set aside to cool
9. If the gravy is not thick enough for you then you can add the beurre manié to thicken the gravy. Be sure to add little bits of it at a time while mixing it in, continue to simmer until the gravy’s thickness is to your liking

Putting it Together

1. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface to roughly over cm thick and 3cm wider than the pie dish.
2. Cut a strip of pastry to fit around the rim of the pie dish.
3. Place an egg cup or funnel in the centre of the pie dish and pour the filling around it.
4. Give the rim of the pie dish a brush with water and lay the strip of pastry on top, making sure to seal it and give it a brushing with eggs
5. Place the lid on top; knock up the edges to form a good seal then flute the edge
6. Make a slit in the lid over the funnel/egg cup
7. Brush with egg, making sure to brush the edges
8. Bake in a 200C preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until its golden brown and allow it to cool

And there you have it a good old steak and kidney pie, with whiskey.