I was sent advance notice of the Campaign for Real Ale's national winter ales festival this weekend.

This seemed a great opportunity to work on some recipes using ale, and I made a start with the steak and ale stew with a crusty top.

British brewers produce over 2,000 real ales, largely thanks to CAMRA, and Hampshire has its fair share of them.

Ingredients

800g diced beef

1 tbsp plain flour

2 tbsp sunflower oil

4 rashers unsmoked bacon, diced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 medium onions, diced

1 pint ale

2 carrots, scraped and sliced

4 bay leaves

salt and pepper

Topping

200g plain flour

2 heaped tsp baking powder

tsp salt

50g butter

tsp dried herbs

1 large egg, whisked

2-3 tbsp milk

Method

1 Sprinkle the flour over the meat. Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan and fry the meat for ten minutes. Add the bacon, garlic and onions, and fry until well mixed.

2 Add the ale, carrots and bay leaves. Bring to the boil then transfer to an oven-proof dish and cook, covered, at 350oF/180oC/Gas mark 4 for just under two hours.

3 In the meantime, prepare the topping. Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt together and rub in the butter and the dried herbs. Slowly add the egg and a small amount of milk. Knead lightly, roll out, and cut the dough into eight pieces.

4 When the steak is cooked, remove from the oven and place the dough triangles on top. Brush with milk and return to a hot oven (400oF/200oC/Gas mark 6) and bake for about fifteen minutes, or until nicely risen and brown. Serves 4-6.