beef and mushroom pie

delicious comfort food for a stormy night

for 4
you will need a heavy bottomed, lidded saucepan, and a pyrex or tin pie dish

700g stewing steak, in chunks
1 large onion, chopped
2 handfuls mushrooms, sliced
ground nut oil
vegetable or beef stock
1 dstsp soy sauce
1 dstsp worcester sauce
oregano (or your choice of herb)
salt and pepper
1 tbsp/15g butter at room temperature
1 tbsp/8g plain flour
600g puff pastry (shop bought or make it yourself - here's Paul Hollywood's recipe)

1.  In a large lidded saucepan, fry the onion in the oil until soft.
2. Add the steak and fry until nicely browned all over.
3. Add the stock (enough to generously cover the meat) and the soy and worcester sauces and bring to the boil.
4. Add 2 tsp oregano and a generous milling of pepper.
5. Put on the lid and simmer for 1 hour.
6. Add the mushrooms, bring back to the boil and simmer for a further hour.
7. Allow to cool.  Taste and add additional sauces, herbs and salt if you think it needs it (the soy sauce will add salt so it may not need additional salt).
8. Make a beurre meuniere to thicken the liquid: using a fork, in a ramekin or small bowl, mix together the flour and butter to form a paste; add a few spoons of the liquid from the pan, bit by bit, until you have a smooth liquid, about the consistency of cream.  
9. Add this to the pan and stir in.
10. Set the oven to 200C (390F).
11. When cool, transfer pan contents to the pie dish and add the puff pastry on top, sealing well down at the edges.  Make a few holes in the pastry with a fork.
12. Place the dish on a baking tray and bake in the oven for about 35 minutes.