Name: Steak and Oyster Pie
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 2–3 shallots, finely chopped; 225–300 g (8–10 oz) Buttered Spinach, cooked weight; 18 large rock oysters, opened, with their juices; 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped; ½ leek, roughly chopped; Sprig of thyme; 1 small garlic clove; Cooking oil; 6 X 225 g (8 oz) small chuck steak joints, trimmed of all sinews and tied; 1 carrot, roughly chopped; 1 onion, roughly chopped; 3–4 tomatoes, chopped (optional); Salt and pepper; Few white peppercorns, crushed; 100 g (4 oz) unsalted butter; Bottle of red wine, preferably claret; 1 bay leaf; 900 ml-1.2 litres (114–2 pints) Veal or Beef Jus, not too thick and strong; the flavour will develop while braising; Butter; 450 g (1 lb) Shortcrust or Puff Pastry; ½ teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon; 4–5 tablespoons lightly whipped double cream, to glaze; Squeeze of lemon juice; 1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley; 2 egg yolks; 150–300 ml (¼–½ pint) red wine, reduced by three-quarters; 1 teaspoon chopped shallots; 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

New British Classics

By Gary Rhodes

Published 1999

About

Here, I hope, is another long-lasting, new Great British classic. Its concept is similar to that of the Steak and ‘Kidney Pie’, with the ‘pie’ becoming a separate feature on the plate. The beef is cooked in red wine, and the oyster pie is finished with a glaze of red-wine béarnaise sauce.

Oysters were once a cheap food for everybody, so much so that in the nineteenth century they were actually included in steak and kidney puddings, popped un