Pepper steak and mushroom pie — two pie fillings in one

Home-cooked pies are almost invariably better than shop-bought ones, although of course there are exceptions. Some farm stalls, such as Nanaga on the intersection of the N10 that takes you either to Makhanda/Grahamstown or Cradock/Nxuba, turn out great pies.

But I do often use shop-bought frozen puff pastry when making a pie. Sometimes I make an easy hot water crust instead, the easiest pastry to make, and it has a very crunchy finish.

My mom used to make a pie almost weekly, invariably what she called her “meat and potato pie”, and her pastry was homemade short crust. Wonderfully flaky. The meat in her pies was beef.

Having bought a roll of frozen puff pastry a few weeks ago for a pie that I didn’t get around to making, it occurred to me to use it this week. In the end, I decided on a filling of pepper steak and mushrooms. But they would be creamed mushrooms, which would be folded into the meat once the latter was tender.

The steak was cubed, after removing the fat, but rather than discarding it I scored it and rendered it in a hot pan until I had plenty of hot fat. I browned the cubes of steak in this and then cooked the onion and garlic in it too.

Then I added red wine and deglazed, before adding beef stock, mustard and thyme. And plenty of pepper of course. The meat was then simmered until tender, about 90 minutes to 2 hours.

I cooked the sliced button mushrooms until they released their juices, and continued cooking and stirring while those juices largely cooked away, leaving only a glistening film over the mushrooms.

Cream was added and, once it was nice and luscious, I folded that into the now thickened (by reduction) meat in its well-flavoured cooking stock.

As for that puff pastry, I did something unusual: rather than just roll it out, I rolled and folded, rolled and folded, until I had a square piece of layered pastry to fit my square dish. (If using a round dish, cut a round.)

Tony’s pepper steak and mushroom pie

(Makes 1 large pie about the dimensions of a standard pie dish)

Ingredients

1 kg rump steak, cubed

1 large onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

4 thyme sprigs

200 ml red wine

100 ml strong beef stock

250 ml fresh cream

2 Tbsp hot English mustard

500 g button mushrooms sliced

2 Tbsp butter

2 to 3 Tbsp black peppercorns, crushed

1 Tbsp green peppercorns, whole

A roll of shop-bought puff pastry, defrosted

1 egg, beaten

Method

Render the fat down in a dry pan, then discard the hard matter.

Cube the steak and fry it on all sides in the rendered beef tallow. Remove.

Add the onions to the pan with the thyme sprigs and sauté until softened. Add the garlic and simmer for 2 minutes.

Add the red wine and cook down.

Add the beef stock and bring to a simmer.

Stir in the mustard.

Add all the peppercorns.

Return the beef to the pan, cover, and simmer on a low heat until the beef is tender, about an hour to 90 minutes.

Stir in the cream and simmer for about 10 minutes while the cream thickens the sauce and makes it luxurious.

Meanwhile, cook the mushrooms in butter. Season with salt. Let them release all their liquid and turn nutty – there should be little liquid left in the pan.

Add cream and cook until the mushrooms are part of a fairly thick, creamy sauce. The sauce will emulsify as it cooks gently.

Stir the creamed mushrooms into the beef.

Grease a pie dish and add the filling. Place the pastry on top. Crimp the edges with the tines of a fork.

Using a small, sharp knife, make cross incisions in the centre. Beat the egg and brush the pastry thoroughly, including the crimped edges.

Bake at 240°C (or lower in a fan oven) for about 25 to 30 minutes or until the crust is crunchy and golden.

Let the pie stand on a rack out of the oven for 10 minutes to settle before serving. DM

Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the Year award, in 2021 and 2023.

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.