Beef Cheek and Home Brew Pie

Ingredients
1 kg beef cheeks chopped into  chunks
salt and pepper
olive oil
2 carrots
2 red onions
250 ml home brew
1 heaped tablespoon plain flour
1 tablespoon tomato sauce
250 g button mushrooms


For the pastry:
600 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
150 g cold unsalted butter, cubed, plus extra for greasing
150 g Cheddar cheese

Method
Roll beef with plain flour, and brown up the meat in pan with a little oil. Add home brew  and  the chop the carrots, onions, mushrooms and tomato sauce and salt and pepper.


You might need to add some water at this stage to cover the ingredients.



Cook until the meat is tender ( 2 to 3 hours) thicken with plain flour mixed in a little water.
To make the pastry.
Combine the flour, cheese and a good pinch of salt in a bowl and  mix. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Gradually add cold water, mixing continuously to combine to make the dough.
Wrap the dough in gladwrap and place in the fridge for half a hour.
Divide the pastry, then it roll out. Line the pie dishes, add filling then put the pastry on top.

Bake until cooked

I've never eaten beef cheeks John, after looking at that recipe i reckon i'll give it a try, (haven't got any home brew but i reckon a can of carlton draught would be a good substitute ) 

Beef cheeks were always made use of in the 1940/50's but seemed to drop out of favour in modern times.  I wonder if it is all the television cooking shows that are responsible for seeing a resurgence of these wonderful cuts of beef?  Pork and beef cheeks as well as ox tongue were staples in brawn making.

Oh, the memories.

Seamus