Steak & Guinness Pie

I usually serve it with mashed potatoes and green peas.

This is adapted from Jamie Oliver's recipe.

Ingredients:

1/4 lb. bacon
1 lb. stew meat
1 onion, medium dice
1-2 carrots, medium dice
1-2 stalks celery, sliced
8 ounces sliced mushrooms (I use baby bellas)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBSP fresh thyme or 1 tsp. dried
1 TBSP fresh rosemary or 1 tsp. dried
1-2 bay leaves
1 bottle Guinness (extra stout variety)
1 cup beef stock
3 prunes (significantly cuts down on the bitterness from the Guinness)
1 sheet puff pastry
small handful of brown sugar, if desired

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook the bacon and set aside leaving the grease in the pan.
3. Add the beef (in batches) and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Brown on all sides (about 4 minutes) and set aside.
4. Add the onions, carrots, celery and mushrooms and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Add butter if pan starts drying out.
5. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
6. Add the guinness and deglaze the pan.
7. Add the stock, bacon, beef, thyme, rosemary, bay leaf and prunes.
8. Bake in oven for 1-1 1/2 hours*, uncovered. Check meat every 3o minutes. Add more beer or stock if necessary to keep pan from drying up. You may taste-test now and decide if you'd like to add a tad of brown sugar for an additional touch of sweetness.
9. Remove from oven and place puff pastry sheet over the top of the beef mixture. (At this point, I usually transfer the mixture to a 2 qt. casserole dish) You can add slits to the pastry and/or an egg wash, if desired.
10. Bake in oven according to directions on puff pastry.

*Since the pie will need to be baked an additional 40+ minutes because of the puff pastry, I recommend baking for only about an hour.