becoming besties with your butcher

As you know, I'm keen to support local businesses, which is why I'll walk down the street to my local butcher every couple of days to buy whatever I need for dinner. And, tell you what, if you ask politely, your butcher'll do almost anything you ask them {meat-wise that is}.

I went in yesterday to buy my chicken thighs for the pot pies {delish btw and a thousand times simpler than the Ina Garten recipe I'd used previously} and decided to buy the chuck steak for tonight's black ale and beef pie.

There was a new butcher there and I asked him if he'd mind slicing me up big chunks of steak - one inch thick - around a kilo of the stuff. Sure, no problem. So today, when I went to cook up the casserole, I simply sprinkled a few tablespoons of flour in the bag with the meat, added some dried mixed herbs, salt and pepper and mushed it all around. Then I diced up onion, garlic, carrots and celery and softened them in the pan for around 10 minutes in a good slug of oil. When soft, I simply threw in the beef and tossed it in the heat for a few minutes before pouring in my beer. After it stopped bubbling I topped it up with some beef stock, added a few wooden spoonfuls of tomato paste, a couple of bay leaves, a glug of worscester sauce and brought it to the boil.

Popping some baking paper over the top, I added a lid and flung it in a low oven {150 degrees} at 3.30pm and won't take it out till 6.30 when I serve it with colcannon mash and green beans.