This is a British pub classic and a brilliant winter warmer that you’ve got to try…tonight.

When Dan and I were still just boyfriend and girlfriend he used to visit me in Sheffield, in the north of England where I was at university while he was studying abroad in Spain. Heady days, I tell you what.

On one of those trips we drove out to Castleton, a village near Sheffield in the Peak District. Castleton could definitely win a Most Quaint English Village award. It’s been around since 1198 and has a Norman castle, stunning scenery, and some pretty awesome caves. Plus it has some stellar pubs. Mm hm, I have my priorities straight.

That afternoon, me and Dan had gone on a long, chilly walk. We stumbled across a flock of sheep and being the cool kids that we are thought it would be funny to chase them, trying to get photographs. I, of course, promptly slipped in the mud and ended up on my arse feeling pretty stupid, while Dan oh-so-kindly took photos of me before helping me up. And to think I married him.

Anyway, back to pubs and pie. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Inn in Castleton serves up a stonking good steak and ale pie. I took Dan there, I’ve taken my Mum there…they don’t mess around when it comes to a good pie and that’s what I tried to emulate here.

Browned steak, mushrooms, and carrots cooked in ale for a good couple of hours and topped with crispy, buttery puffed pastry.

We ate this after watching our beloved football team Arsenal go out of the Carling Cup Final. Commiseration pie, if you will. I’m sorry, did I lose you? Just know that this is a brilliant winter warmer, and if you use ready-made puffed pastry like I did, it’s a cinch to throw together.

The biggest thing with these kind of pies is getting the pastry/meat ratio right. Next time I try it I think it would be fun to do individual ramekins – like they serve in pubs – to control the amount of pastry everyone gets. Yum.

Steak and Ale Pie
serves four

Ingredients

• 2lb braising steak or stewing beef, diced into small cubes
• 1oz flour, seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for dusting
• 3½oz butter
• 2 onions, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped
• 5½oz button mushrooms
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 14fl oz good-quality English ale (I found Hobgoblin at our local liquor store)
• 17fl oz beef stock
• dash of Worcestershire sauce
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 whole egg beaten
• 10½oz ready-made rolled puff pastry

Directions

1. Place the flour in a medium-sized bowl and season well with salt and pepper. Roll the beef in the flour to coat.
2. Place a large lidded pan on the hob.
3. Heat half the butter in the pan and add the meat. Sear all over until golden brown.
4. Add the vegetables and herbs, then pour in the ale and stock. Bring to a simmer, then cover with a lid and gently simmer on the stove for 1½ hours.
5. Remove the bay leaf and discard. The mixture should have thickened up and reduced quite a bit. If yours is still really liquidy then I recommend adding some corn starch (mixed with cold water first) to thicken it up quickly.
6. Preheat the oven to 425F.
7. Once cooked, season the stew with salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Add the remaining butter and tip into an ovenproof serving dish or pie dish. Brush the edge of the dish with the beaten egg.
8. Roll out the pastry and cover the pie. Scrunch the pastry round the edge of the dish and trim around the edge, leaving a little overhanging. Pinch the edges of the dish so that the pastry will stick to it and trim off any remaining pieces of pastry from around the edge.
9. Brush the pastry top thoroughly with beaten egg and place on a baking tray. Bake in the oven for 15-25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown on top and serve immediately.

There are some things I love to eat more than anything else; foods and dishes that get me pausing, closing my eyes, savouring. Good bread is one of them.

Nothing is finer to me than a great loaf of bread, sliced up and eaten with butter and cheese, or good olive oil. Throw in a bottle of wine and some of my favourite people and the picture is pretty much perfect.

When I first moved to the States, I have to say that I had a hard time with bread. I wish I knew what the elemental difference is but bread here tastes sweet and that’s something I had never experienced before and did not particularly enjoy. I got used to it, because palates and taste buds adapt but I still longed for the fully savoury, truly wheaty taste of European bread.

Luckily, having lived here and explored for a few years, I’ve found bread that I like. I’ve also happened upon some bread that I love so much it’s worth sharing with you here and that bread is from Rustica.

Rustica bakery makes some dang good bread. Their levain loaf is the best dunked in hot soups; their baguettes have just the right texture (crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside) that so many others lack; their multigrain tastes so perfect with rich butter and cheese. I could go on…

I’ve been buying those loaves on occasion from my my local co-op for a while but I’ve never actually been to the bakery itself until now. So, for the love of bread (and blogging), I popped over there this week during lunch to take some photos and buy some of their beautiful goods.

For a mid-week afternoon, Rustica was pretty bumping but their lovely staff were more than happy for me to take some pictures and nose around.

Best discoveries about Rustica?

Their chocolate croissants. They have the exact buttery-ness that you would hope for, are completely messy and flaky, and have the perfect little rectangles of chocolate wedged throughout them. All in the name of blogging…

My second favourite discovery was that they serve Dogwood coffee.

Dogwood happens to be some of my favourite coffee in the city. Hallelujah to good partnerships.

Are you passionate about bread? I’d love to hear about your favourite loaf or bakery – and hope I you’ll try some of Rustica’s bread/baked goods if you can!

For more on Rustica, check out the Perennial Plate and Daniel Klein’s video from Episode 43.

Rustica Bakery
3220 West Lake Street
Minneapolis, MN 55416
612.822.1119

tar·tine

/tɑrˈtin; Fr. tarˈtin/[tahr-teen; Fr. tar-teen]
–noun

1.
a fancy French open-faced sandwich topped with spreadable ingredients.
2.
a piece of bread spread with butter, jam, etc.

When I was little I visited France, the Netherlands, and Belgium a lot for holidays with my family. If we ever stayed in a hotel, breakfasts were invariably comprised of tartine. I didn’t know that word for it back then but it was exactly that: crisp little toasts with butter, jam, marmalade, or chocolate spread on them.

Imagine my delight then, when I came across this idea from Dorie Greenspan: tartine de nutella.

It’s the perfect combination of those tartines we had as children, all fancied up. Crisp slices of baguette; salty, warm butter; tart marmalade with drizzles of rich, warm nutella; and finally crunchy, toasted hazelnuts and coarse, kosher salt. It’s quite honestly a dance party in your mouth.

If you’re not sure that all those flavours will work together, I urge you to just try it, because it’s so very beautiful and delicious and flavours really do work perfectly.

I think Dan said it best when I ran over to let him try a bite: “that’s the business”.

Nutella Tartine

adapted from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients

• ¼ cup Nutella
• 4 slices French baguette or other country-style loaf
• 1½ tablespoons butter, melted
• ¼ cup orange marmalade (I use Dundee)
• kosher salt
• Hazelnuts, toasted, (remove loose skins if you like; I left them on) and coarsely chopped, for topping

1. Preheat the broiler. Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil.
2. Put the nutella in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water and heat, stirring frequently, just until it is softened and warm.
3. Brush one side of each slice of bread with melted butter, and put the bread, buttered side up, on the baking sheet. Run the bread under the broiler; pull it out when the slices are golden. Spread the marmalade over the hot bread and then generously drizzle each tartine with some warm nutella. Top with a few grains of kosher salt and some chopped hazelnuts.