Ingredients:-
1 kg beef, cut into bite size pieces (rump, gravy beef, chuck steak),
1 clove garlic, minced,
1 onion, sliced,
120 mls dry white wine,
1-1/2 cups beef stock,
1 Tbsp cornflour mixed with ¼ cup water,
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce,
2 450g packages pre-rolled butter puff-pastry, thawed in the fridge,
3/4 cup (100g) aged white cheddar cheese, finely diced,
1 egg, beaten, for glazing,
METHOD:-
Preheat oven to 160°C fan forced. Season beef with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a heavy-based pan on high heat and brown the meat on all sides in batches.
Transfer to an ovenproof baking dish. Add 1–2 Tbsp more oil to pan and sauté onions and garlic until soft. Pour wine over onions and garlic to deglaze pan and pour over meat. Add the stock and Worcestershire Sauce, seal with a lid and cook meat in oven for around 3 hours or until beef easily falls apart when touched.
Remove meat and set aside.
Pour the cooking liquid into a saucepan, heat and stir in cornflour to thicken. Check seasoning and pour over beef, Cool.
Increase oven temperature to 190°C fan bake. Roll out pastry block into 2 x 30cm sheets, approximately 2–3mm thick. Grease a 25cm pie tin and line with a sheet of pastry. Prick the bottom of the pastry all over with a fork.
Three-quarters fill with beef filling. Break up bits of cheddar cheese and dot these evenly over the beef. Brush a little beaten egg around the rim. Lay second sheet of pastry over the top of the pie and squeeze edges together to seal.
Trim off excess pastry and press edges with a fork to make doubly sure there’s no chance of filling escaping.
Brush pie top with beaten egg and prick a couple of little holes near the centres to let out steam.
Bake for around 45 minutes or until pastry is cooked and golden brown.