My best ever staff dinner

When the chef has a day off, I am responsible for cooking guests' lunch and dinner, and also the staff dinner.  The guests' meals are simple enough because I've done them a few times now without the chef, and I simply follow the menu - no imagination required.

I was in a quandry over the last staff dinner though.  I had some chuck steak which needed to be used, and, being a bit sick of cooking casseroles and curries, decided pies might be an interesting change.

Jase, Dean, Mark, and Stacey drove to Alice Springs to play golf for the day, and I figured that after a few beers and a day in the sun, they would relish in feasting on a good ol' fashioned pie with chips and salad.

Some of the time I stood back and scratched my head, not too sure how to proceed, but this is what I ended up making:

Eve's chuck pies
Pastry:
Chuck in a couple of big scoops of plain flour into a large bowl and rub some butter into it.
Stir in milk and sour cream and mix to a firm dough.  Wrap in plastic and throw in the fridge for an hour.

Filling:
I made a ragout.

First, I seered the chuck steak on the grill to caramelise the meat, then added it to a pan which contained fried onion, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, salt, pepper, a big blob of tomato paste, some water, worcesteshire sauce and brown vinegar. 

Simmer slowly for 3 hours until the onions have dissolved and the meat is very tender.  Shred the meat with with a fork and add back to the sauce.

The pies:
Without access to pie dishes, I had to improvise, so I rolled portions of pastry into large circles, added a spoonful of ragout, folded the pastry in half, and squeezed/tiwsted the edges (using egg-wash to bind). 

Then I brushed the pies with egg wash and baked them until golden brown.

The lipsmacking:
Oh my goodness, the reaction I got from the staff was fantastic!  Everyone asked for the recipe (and as you can see, there really isn;t one!), and every crumb, I mean EVERYcrumb, was engulfed!!  Hooray!!!!!