A little unusual for me- Savoury Baking: Steak and Mushroom Pie

A few weeks ago, my friend Patricia asked me to try out a few recipe including this one: Steak and Mushroom Pie. I don't usually do a lot of savory baking and I try my best to stay away from working with pastry (well at least I didn't have to make it). I searched the Internet for a recipe but couldn't really find anything that I could relate to, so as usual I decided to make up my own recipe. Now this is not "haute cuisine", but I was able to make this pie with most of the ingredients already in the pantry so that works for me.

Here it is:

Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon of oil (I used canola oil)
- 1/2 onion, sliced
- 1 teaspoon of garlic (I use the ones in jar, which seems to do the job for us)
- 200g of fresh mushrooms (approximately)
- 1 kg beef, diced (casserole type of meat)
- Beef stock powder
- 2 teaspoons of flour
- Water
- Salt
- Pepper
- Short crust pastry (store bought)
- Puff pastry (store bought)

Step 1:
Preheat the oven at 200 Degree C.
In a pan, put the oil to heat up. Add the half onion sliced and the garlic and let them reduce until soft and transparent.

Step 2:
Remove the onion and garlic and put them aside for now. Increase the heat and add the meat in batches to brown. If you add too much at a time, it will boil and be dry.

Step 3:
Turn the heat back down, add the onion and garlic to the meat, and add the mushrooms. Season to taste, put the lid on and let it slowly cook. Once the meat is cooked, remove it and lay on a tray or a plate to cool down. You need to let the meat cool down otherwise it will make the pastry soggy.

Step 4:
The gravy: Mix the flour with approximately 2 tablespoons of cold water until it makes a loose paste. If you have enough juices from cooking the meat, add the flour and let it thicken on low heat, otherwise add some water making sure you are not diluted the juices too much or adding some beef stock powder. You need to taste it.

Step 5:
Line the pie (or baking) dish with the short crust pastry. Pour the cool meat, pour the gravy over it. Brush the top of the short crust pastry with milk (or butter, or egg wash) so it will stick to the puff pastry.

Step 6:
Cover the pie with the puff pastry. and stick both together sealing them with a fork. Brush the pie with milk (or butter, or egg wash) and decorate if you are that
way inclined.

You can see my DIY job on the right of the picture.

Step 7:
Bake in a preheated oven at 200 Degree C for about 40 minutes. Then turn the oven off and leave it for another 10 minutes... and Tadaaaa!

and a pic of the steaming hot pie just out of the oven:

Of course I wanted the verdict tonight, so even though it was late, I had to ask my expert husband to taste it while watching the Biggest Loser out of all TV programs. He hates me for it but the pie according to him it was the best pie he has ever eaten and he knows his stuff so I am very flattered.