Beef Pie with Guinness (Irish)

Irish Meat and Guinness pie is a savoury delicious meal. The puff pastry is such an elegant feature to the dish. The Guinness adds a wonderful flavour to the meat and gravy that is most satisfying. The meat comes out tender and awesome. A lovely dish to serve guests to make a gourmet impression. All meat and potato lovers will enjoy this with some colcannon, a traditional mashed potato dish that goes perfect with the meat pie.
 
2 lbs beef chuck, boneless, cut into 1" pieces
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour, unbleached
1 tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. black pepper, freshly ground
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 Tbsp. water
1½ Tbsp. tomato paste
1 cup beef broth
1 cup Guinness
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. peppercorns, cracked very coarsely
2 fresh thyme sprigs
puff pastry dough
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp. water

Special Equipment:
4 ramekins (4-5" wide) or ovenproof dishes
 
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Pat beef dry. Stir together flour, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish. Add beef, turning to coat, then shake off excess and transfer to a plate. Heat oil in a wide 5- to 6-quart ovenproof heavy pot over moderately high heat until just smoking, then brown meat, turning occasionally,about 5 minutes, then transfer to a bowl.

Add onion, garlic, and water to pot and cook, scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pot and stirring frequently, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in beef with any juices accumulated in bowl, broth, beer, Worcestershire sauce, peppercorns, and thyme and bring to a simmer, then cover and transfer to oven. Braise until beef is very tender and sauce is thickened, about 1½ hours. Discard thyme and cool stew completely, uncovered, about 30 minutes.
Put a shallow baking pan on middle rack of oven and increase oven temperature to 425°F.

Divide cooled stew among bowls (about ¾ full). Roll out pastry dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 13" square, about ⅛ inch thick. Trim edges and cut dough into quarters. Stir together egg and water and brush a 1-inch border of egg wash around each square. Invert 1 square over each bowl and drape, pressing sides lightly to help adhere. Brush pastry tops with some of remaining egg wash for a beautiful golden top.

Bake pies in preheated shallow baking pan until pastry is puffed and golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Makes 4 servings.