How to make James Martin's comforting beef pie and sticky toffee pudding

A classic dessert with a twist

James Martin's beef pie with star anise carrots. Picture: Dan Jones.

"There are loads of variations of sticky toffee pudding, and I love to put my own spin on it," says James Martin.

"Miso is a brilliant savoury ingredient and when added to caramel it's amazing, but it has to be high-quality miso!"

Sticky toffee pudding with miso caramel sauce and clotted cream

recipe by:James Martin

Miso is a brilliant savoury ingredient and when added to caramel it's amazing, but it has to be high-quality miso.

Servings

6

Cooking Time

 40 mins

Total Time

 40 mins

Course

 Dessert

Ingredients

• 290ml boiling water

• 200g stoned dates

• 50g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

• 175g Demerara sugar

• 1tbsp golden syrup

• 2 eggs, beaten

• 2tbsps black treacle

• 200g sifted plain flour

• 1tsp vanilla bean paste

• 1tsp bicarbonate of soda

• For the miso caramel sauce:

• 200ml double cream

• 100g butter

• 100g dark muscovado sugar

• 3tbsps black treacle

• 2tbsps golden syrup

• 2tbsps white miso paste

• To serve:

• Clotted cream

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160ºC fan. Grease a 20 centimetre square, five centimetre-deep cake tin and line it with baking parchment.

2. Pour the boiling water over the dates in a bowl and leave to sit for five minutes, then blitz until smooth and pour back into the bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until pale, then fold in the syrup, eggs, treacle, flour and vanilla until smooth and combined.

4. Stir the bicarbonate of soda into the blitzed dates, then mix into the pudding batter. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until springy to the touch. Leave to cool slightly in the tin, then turn out onto a plate to serve.

5. Meanwhile, to make the toffee sauce, put all the ingredients into a pan and bring gently to the boil, stirring until blended, then take off the heat.

6. To serve, cut squares of the pudding, spoon over the toffee sauce and top each portion with a dollop of clotted cream.

Pie season has arrived: Beef pie with star anise carrots

"This is basically a braised beef stew turned into a pie," says James Martin. 

"We get a lot of letters and emails from people complaining that a pie isn't a pie without a base! But this is such a simple dish.

"For the beef, make sure you get big chunks - you don't want the stewing beef that's already cut up as the chunks are too small and they fall to bits in your stew. 

"You want chunks and whole carrots, as you want to be able to taste everything."

Beef pie with star anise carrots

recipe by:James Martin

This is basically a braised beef stew turned into a pie. We get a lot of letters and emails from people complaining that a pie isn't a pie without a base! But this is such a simple dish. For the beef, make sure you get big chunks - you don't want the stew

Preparation Time

 30 mins

Cooking Time

 4 hours 0 mins

Total Time

 4 hours 30 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 2kg shin of beef, cut into large dice

• 2 shallots, diced

• 250ml beer

• 500ml red wine

• A few sprigs of thyme

• 2 bay leaves

• 500g ready-made puff pastry

• 1 egg yolk, beaten

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• For the carrots:

• 400g whole carrots, peeled, with 1cm green tops left on

• 100g caster sugar

• 5 star anise

• 100g butter

Method

1. In a very large casserole dish, over a medium-high heat, fry the beef in batches until deeply coloured. Season with salt and pepper, then pop it all back into the pan with the shallots, cover with the beer and wine and add the herbs.

2. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for two to three hours, until the beef is very tender. Season with salt and pepper and allow to cool.

3. Preheat the oven to 200C/180ºC fan.

4. Use the beef stew to fill a 20 centimetre ovenproof pie dish. Roll out the pastry to two millimetres thick and slightly larger than the dish. Brush the top edges of the dish with egg wash, then pop the pastry on, crimp and seal the edges and garnish with pastry leaves (cut from the pastry offcuts) and egg-wash these too.

5. Put the dish onto a baking tray to avoid any overspill and bake in the oven for 40 minutes until the pastry is risen and deep golden.

6. Meanwhile, pop all the ingredients for the carrots into a pan, bring to the boil, stirring occasionally, then simmer for 20 minutes until the carrots are tender. Serve with the beef pie.