Steak, Guinness & Cheese Pie and Maple Butter Carrots

I received Jamie Oliver’s new book, Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life at Christmas, but today is the first time I’ve got round to cooking anything from it.  

We had Steak, Guinness and Cheese Pie which was incredibly tasty. 

Cheese in a pie sounds unusual but it really is good, you don't taste it in a 'cheesy way' you just get added savoury depth.

I used local organic chuck steak for the pie, a wonderful cut of meat that melted in the mouth.  So tender it could be cut with a spoon, delightful. I am so very pleased (and lucky) to have such a wonderful local butcher. 

I decided to serve the pie with mashed potato and ‘maple butter carrots’.  The buttery mash was the perfect choice for soaking up all the delectable Guinness juices and the carrots added a sweetness which was very well suited to the sharpness of the gravy. A match made in food heaven. 

Tomorrow I will serve the remaining pie, but will accompany it with crisp deep fried chips.  I hardly ever deep-fry anything these days but steak pie and chips is a hard meal to beat in my book and certainly shouldn’t be passed up given the opportunity.