Steak and Kidney Pie

It's been a miserable, rainy old day and I needed something stodgy, comforting and hot for my dinner - what better than steak and kidney pie?

Meatwise, you will need 1kg steak and kidney. I buy the majority of my meat online from Aubrey Allen, who delivery your meat in a very well insulated box with ice packs by an overnight courier. I like to stock up my freezer every few months with a box from them. Yes, I know they're not cheap but the quality of the meat is superb. Right, back to my point - I buy my steak and kidney already mixed from them - it's a mixture of chuck steak and ox kidney - it looks to me to be about 750g chuck steak and 250g kidney, if you prefer to buy them separately.

Pie purists will shoot me for calling this "a pie" because it's really a stew with a lid on it. To my mind, a pie has to have sides and a base really.

Steak and Kidney Pie

1kg steak and kidney (See above)
2 cloves of garlic (Crushed)
15 shallots (Allium oschaninii O. Fedtsch; peeled but left whole)
4 carrots (Cut into rings)
5 chestnut mushrooms (Sliced)
2 clementines (Citrus reticulata Blanco; Zest and juice, thereof)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp plain flour
500mL beef stock
500mL red wine
2 bay leaves (Laurus nobilis L.)
5 allspice berries (Pimenta dioica (L.) Merr.)
1 tbsp cloudberry jam (Rubus chamaemorus L.; if you can't find this (try Ikea!) then you can use redcurrant (Ribes rubrum L.), or blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum L.) jam instead)
Salt and black pepper
Pre-made puff pastry (Because life is too short!)

Firstly, cook the whole shallots with the garlic in the oil for a few minutes in a large cooking pot until they start to soften and brown a little. Remove them from the pan and add the meat. Cook the meat until it browns on the outside and then sprinkle with the flour and stir until the meat is well coated. Cook for 2 minutes with constant stirring and then add the stock and the wine, giving it a good stir. Add the mushrooms, carrots, bay leaves, allspice, salt, pepper and jam and then bring the pot the boil. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes then take off of the heat and leave to cool for a little while. Pre-heat your oven to 200°C.

Using a slotted spoon, add the meat and vegetables from the pot to a large pie-dish and then cover with enough of the sauce so that they aren't swimming. Cover with a layer of the puff pastry and bake for 30 minutes. I had this with boiled potatoes and some peas...oh and a large glass of white wine *hic*.