This is a really great family dish but also a wonderful dinner party meal. The French have a great affection for the wonderful beef bourguignon. Surely this is the Irish answer to upgrading the beef stew to something a little special.

Ingredients
4 celery sticks thickly sliced
4 big carrots thickly sliced
2 onions
A few sprigs of thyme
2 tbsp plain flour
1can stout
2 beef stock cubes
1 pack puff pastry
900g stewing beef

Method
– Put seasoned flour in a bag and add cubed beef. Give it a shake to coat the meat.
– Heat oil and sear the meat in batches. Transfer to a casserole dish. Add chopped celery, carrots and onions to the pan and cook long enough just until they have a little colour.
– Transfer veg to casserole dish.
– Deglaze the pan with the stout add stock and pour over veg and meat. Add water if needed to cover the meat and veg.
– Heat the oven to 160C cover the casserole and cook for approximately 3 hours until meat is meltingly tender.

It would be ready to serve as is but if you want to give it a little more pizazz pop some puff pastry on top. Glaze with a little beaten egg, turn up the oven to 200C and cook for 20 mins or until the pastry is golden brown.

This is great served with baby potatoes, but equally delicious served with crusty bread and a green salad.
I like to do individual pies for a dinner party. But I would use the same cooking method and just transfer to the small pie dishes prior to putting on the lids of puff pastry.