James Martin’s beef pie with star anise carrots recipe

“This is basically a braised beef stew turned into a pie,” says James Martin. “We get a lot of letters and emails from people complaining that a pie isn’t a pie without a base! But this is such a simple dish.

“For the beef, make sure you get big chunks – you don’t want the stewing beef that’s already cut up as the chunks are too small and they fall to bits in your stew. You want chunks and whole carrots, as you want to be able to taste everything.”

Beef pie with star anise carrots

Ingredients:
(Serves 6)

2kg shin of beef, cut into large dice
2 shallots, diced
250ml beer
500ml red wine
A few sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
500g ready-made puff pastry
1 egg yolk, beaten
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the carrots:
400g whole carrots, peeled, with 1cm green tops left on
100g caster sugar
5 star anise
100g butter

Method:

1. In a very large casserole dish, over a medium-high heat, fry the beef in batches until deeply coloured. Season with salt and pepper, then pop it all back into the pan with the shallots, cover with the beer and wine and add the herbs.

2. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for two to three hours, until the beef is very tender. Season with salt and pepper and allow to cool.

3. Preheat the oven to 200C/180ºC fan.

4. Use the beef stew to fill a 20 centimetre ovenproof pie dish. Roll out the pastry to two millimetres thick and slightly larger than the dish. Brush the top edges of the dish with egg wash, then pop the pastry on, crimp and seal the edges and garnish with pastry leaves (cut from the pastry offcuts) and egg-wash these too.

5. Put the dish onto a baking tray to avoid any overspill and bake in the oven for 40 minutes until the pastry is risen and deep golden.

6. Meanwhile, pop all the ingredients for the carrots into a pan, bring to the boil, stirring occasionally, then simmer for 20 minutes until the carrots are tender. Serve with the beef pie.

James Martin’s Saturday Morning by James Martin is published by Quadrille, priced £25.00. Photography by Dan Jones. Available November 6