Hello there Mr Pie, with your golden, flaky puff pastry hiding a melt-in-your-mouth beef filling. How is it possible that you only take 15 minutes to prepare? This Beef and Mushroom pie is one of my three recipes that takes slow cooked beef cheeks in three different directions.
No, it’s not a genius hack! It’s just thriftiness – using leftovers from the Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks in Red Wine that I posted yesterday. This pie……what is there to say? It’s pure comfort food at its best because it takes just 15 minutes to put together to pop into the oven!
The best pies are ones with slow cooked fillings so the meat is tender and juicy. So making this using leftover Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks in Red Wine is a classic way of making a pie. The sauce from the leftover beef cheeks forms the base of the gravy with the addition of crushed tomatoes and tomato paste (to thicken it up), and some dried herbs.
Because this is a fast midweek meal fast version, it is made using frozen puff pastry. When it comes to store bought packaged foods, there’s a line that I never cross. Pasta sauces are on the other side of that line, as are things like canned soups and frozen meals. However, puff pastry is firmly on the “buy” side. I have never and will never attempt to make my own puff pastry. It’s incredibly time consuming and complex to get right so when it bakes, it puffs up with layer upon layer of delicate flaky pastry.
This pie could also be topped with thin slices of potato, or with mashed potato like a shepherds pie. And you can substitute the vegetables with whatever you want. Just be sure to cut them to size so they will cook in the time the pie is in the oven.
This is the second recipe in the Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks “One Recipe, Three Ways” series:
1. Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks in Red Wine
2. Beef Cheek, Mushroom and Vegetable Pie (this recipe) – using leftover beef cheeks and sauce, this is ready to pop in the oven in 15 minutes.
3. Beef Cheek Ragu Pasta (coming tomorrow) – made with shredded leftover beef cheeks and sauce. A rich, decadent pasta on the table in 15 minutes. Absolutely luscious.
So this weekend, why not make up a batch of the Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks in Red Wine and use the leftovers for a fast midweek meals?
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Beef and Mushroom Pie (3 in 1)
Ingredients
- 1 sheet ready rolled puff pastry (25cm x 25cm / 10" x 10"), thawed
- 1 egg , lightly beaten
Pie Filling
- 2 cups shredded beef cheeks from Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks in Red Wine leftovers
- 1 1/2 cups leftover sauce from Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks in Red Wine
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion (brown, white or yellow), diced
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 2 carrots , diced roughly to the size of peas (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1 cup frozen green peas
- 1 cup canned crushed tomato
- 1 1/2 cups sliced button mushrooms
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp thyme (dried)
- 1 tsp oregano (dried)
- 1 tsp salt , plus more to taste
- Black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
- You will need 4 x 1 2/3 cup capacity ramekins.
- Place 1 ramekin on the puff pastry and use it as a guide to cut rounds out of the puff pastry. Cut 4 rounds.
- Heat oil in large heavy based pan over medium high heat.
- Add onion and garlic, and sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add carrots and sauté for 1 minute. Then add mushrooms and sauté for another minute.
- Add remaining Pie Filling ingredients. Let simmer for 3 minutes to bring the flavours together.
- Divide the Pie Filling between the 4 ramekins. Top with puff pastry rounds and cut a small slash in each (steam vents).
- Brush with egg, then place into the oven to bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the pastry is dark golden and puffed.
- Remove from oven, let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
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Great pies. My only change next time will be to reduce the herbs -maybe 1/4 teaspoon each, as the beef cheeks are already so flavoursome. Thanks for a great recipe. I did the trifecta – beef cheeks, then ragu, now pies.
Hi Nagi!
Adore your recipes. I know it says ramekins are needed but do you think I could get away with a baking dish?
Hi Nagi!
I’m obsessed with your recipes.
Just wanted to check, you mention that ramekins are needed but do you think I could get away with a baking dish and just up ingredients to fit?
The beef is amazing on pizza with cheese and caramelized onion too 😁
YUM! I love this idea Carol! N x
Pls inform the “cup” is 240ml or 100ml?
Merci
Hi Kate, 1 cup here is 250ml. N x
Hi, I love your recipies!
My partner is the only one that eats meat so I’ll be halving the recipe to make two pies. Do they store and reheat ok in the fridge? If so how long would you reheat in the oven for?
Love the beef cheeks and so easy to make.
Could I use the Aussie meat pies in my pie maker and would I have to cook the pastry first? Thank you.
Hi Sabina, I prefer to cook the pastry slightly first to stop getting a soggy base 🙂
Great stuff. Tasted better and better through the week. will make again into pie form.
Thanks so much for the great feedback Mikey!
Hi Nagi! I’m preparing to make the beef cheeks tomorrow and intend to freeze leftovers to make the pies later in the week.
I was just wondering if there’s an optimal way to thaw the beef and sauce before using as pie ingredients. In the fridge the night before, or could they be microwaved?
And would you freeze the beef and sauce separately?
I hope these aren’t silly questions! (I don’t freeze things very often) Your advice is very much appreciated! x
Hi Phoebe, you can freeze the beef and sauce together, I’d just thaw I the fridge the night before – N x
Thanks Nagi! Can’t wait to make the pies (the beef cheeks turned out amazing!) x
I look the look of all 3 of these recipes! The pie and the pasta ask for 2 cups of leftover beef – do you know roughly how much in grams that is? I want to cook enough to ensure I have enough leftover.
I hope this recipe will be like by my kids, They never eaten beef before and i want to taste them in shape of this recipe. Thanks
I hope they love it too! 🙂 N x
This is the best pie I have ever made – and maybe even the best I’ve ever eaten. I added some finely diced zucchini as well as finely diced mushrooms and I think I probably increased the meat/sauce to get five pies out of this; but I don’t think you could go wrong tweaking this recipe slightly, because the base of slow cooked beef cheeks and sauce is just so freaking perfect. I just wish beef cheeks would become cheap again so that I could make this more often! I love a lot of Nagi recipes but this might just be the best.
I have made beef cheeks in the past and always make it a day ahead of needed to remove any excess fat. Do I need to do this?
Hi Lin! My beef cheeks are slow cooked so the fat melts 🙂 I’ve never needed to remove excess fat. N x
Hello! I recently came across your posting for braised beef cheeks and followed it to the letter using the stovetop method- they were incredible! I then used the leftovers to make your suggested pie, which I again followed to the T. Perfection, I would not change a thing. Thank you! I will be looking at your other recipes !
Awesome! So glad to hear that Kate, thanks for letting me know! N x
Hi can you confirm that is definitely 3 tablespoons of tomatoe paste in the recipe it seems rather a lot.
Love the look of the dishes 1 into 3 sounds good too!
New to site looking forward to exploring.
Hi Cheri! Yes it is, for this recipe I do not use flour or anything as a thickener, I use the tomato paste 🙂
Hi! great recipe, and I can’t wait to try it out!
But can I use minced beef instead of beef cheeks?
Hi Beti! I’m sorry but this is dependent on using beef cheeks so there is loads of flavour from the slow cooking! How about Shepherd’s Pie? I shared one on my blog made in potato skins then topped with mashed potato! Fun and so delicious!!
Hi, Thanks for your recipes they are delicious!
I made your beef cheeks in red wine but something went wrong and my pressure cooker used up all the sauce.
I still have left over meat. Do you know what I could use for a sauce for me to use this meat in this pie recipe?
Thanks!
Hi Charisse – oh dear, I’m sorry to hear that! It sounds like either the pressure is leaking liquid, which it should not, or if it was a stove one, perhaps you had it on too high? After it whistles, you should turn it down to medium low, just to maintain the pressure. 🙂 If you just have the meat and not much sauce, I would make a basic tomato pasta sauce. Start with 1/2 an onion + 2 garlic cloves minced, cook in 1 tbsp of olive oil and then add canned crushed tomatoes (or passata), mixed Italian herbs, salt and pepper. You could add 1/2 cup of red wine too, if you want that flavour back! Add it before you add the tomatoes and let it cook out (i.e. evaporate) then add the tomatoes. Let it all simmer for 5 minutes then add the shredded meat and cook for a further 10 minutes to let the flavours come together, adding water as necessary. It will still be super yum because the meat will leech flavour into the sauce!
Hey Nagi! I’ve made a similar pie with leftover pot roast which I cook in an onion, red wine and beef broth combo. I’ve also subbed leftover roast chicken and a madeira wine gravy. Both with whatever veggies you like. Unfortunately, beef cheeks are unheard of where we live, which is a very small town in northeastern Tennessee.
Hi Dorothy! I always wonder where the beef cheeks go when I hear they aren’t available somewhere!! He he! This can definitely be made with any other cut of slow cooking beef and it sounds like you already have a recipe down pat Dorothy!! 🙂 I’d love to try your pot roast recipe if you are up for sharing it?? 🙂
I need this in my life right now. It looks so goooood. You sure know how to make a pie look tasty, girl!
I’d express courier it to you if I could!