Guinness Cottage Pie

Looking to use up that last Guinness from St Patrick's Day? This tender beef stew topped with buttery mashed potatoes is the way to go.

Ingredients:

 1 1/2 lbs (680 g) blade roast, cut in 1" cubes

2 tbsps flour

3 tbsps vegetable oil, divided

1 medium onion, diced

1 medium carrot, diced

2 cups sliced or diced mushrooms

4 tsps minced garlic

2 bay leaves

1 tsp dry thyme

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 cup beef broth

3/4 - 1 can Guinness, regular or 0% alcohol

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste

2 tsps cornstarch

2 tsps water

2 large potatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs)

2/3 cup milk

2 tbsps butter

salt and olive oil 

Toss the beef and 1 tbsp flour together. Heat 2 tbsps oil in an oven safe skillet to high temperature. Sear the beef 3-4 minutes to brown then remove to a plate. Reduce heat to medium, add 1 tbsp oil to the pan then add the onions, carrots and mushrooms. Cook 2 minutes then add the garlic, bay leaves, thyme, tomato paste and 1 tbsp flour. Stir together for 1 minute. Return the beef to the skillet along with 3/4 of the Guinness, broth and Worcestershire sauce. Put the balance of the Guinness aside for now. Bring the stew to a bowl, then cover with a lid or foil and place in a 350°F oven for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. After the 1st hour see if more liquid is needed. If so, add the remainder of the Guinness. If not, sit and have a sip. Return the pot to the oven for another 1/2 - 1 hour. Remove from the oven. Whisk 2 tsps cornstarch with 2 tsps water then whisk into the pot and boil for 1 minute. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove the bay leaves. Oil a 1.8L (6 cup) baking dish (especially around the top) and spoon the stew in. Bring the potatoes to a boil then simmer 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and return to the burner that has been turned off for 30 seconds. Add butter and mash then add the milk and salt. Spoon and spread over the beef mixture and run a fork over the top. This will create little golden bits when baked. Drizzle a little olive oil on top if you like. Now back in the oven for 25-30 minutes. As you can see it's best to sit the dish on a baking sheet to catch any drips while baking. Broil 2-4 minutes if you want the top to be more golden, then let it sit for 5 minutes before digging in! 

Serves 4-6

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Flaky Guinness Beef Pie

Rich and tender beef fill this traditional Irish stew pie. Don't wait for St Patrick's Day to try it! And Guinness has come out with a 0% alcohol product that's works just as well as the original.

Ingredients:

680g (1 1/2 lbs) top blade beef, cubed

2 tbsps flour

3 tbsps vegetable oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 medium carrot, diced

2 cups sliced or diced mushrooms

4 tsps minced garlic

2 bay leaves

1 tsp dry thyme

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 cup beef broth

3/4 - 1 can Guinness, regular or 0% alcohol

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp cold water

pie dough for bottom crust 10" pie plate

1 sheet of puff pastry for top

1 egg

Toss the beef and 1 tbsp flour together. Heat 2 tbsps oil in an oven safe skillet to high temperature. Sear the beef 3-4 minutes to brown then remove to a plate. Reduce heat to medium, add 1 tbsp of oil then add the onions, carrots and mushrooms. Cook 2 minutes then add the garlic, bay leaves, thyme, tomato paste and 1 tbsp flour. Stir together for 1 minute. Return the beef to the skillet, add 3/4 of the Guinness, broth and Worcestershire sauce. Put the balance of the Guinness aside for now. Bring the stew to a boil, then cover loosely with foil and place in a 350°F oven for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. After 1 hour see if the stew needs the rest of the Guinness. If it doesn't, then have a sip or two and relax for another hour. After that time if the stew needs thickening whisk the cornstarch and water together and mix in, boil 1 minute. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove the bay leaves. Roll out the pie dough and line a 10" pie plate. Beat the egg and brush the dough with it from the edge right to the center. Fill with the stew then lay the puff pastry on top, cut to fit and seal the edges with a fork. Cut a few air vents in the top, brush with beaten egg and add a few grinds of fresh cracked pepper to the top, then bake in a 400°F oven for 35 minutes.

Ideally served with colcannon potatoes but a nice garlic mashed potato will do as well. Serves 6

Follow hotandcoldrunningmom on Pinterest. You can scan the pincode seen here with your phone if you're on a desktop. If you're on a phone just screenshot it, go to the Pinterest app, click camera. Then instead of taking a pic use the option to use one of your photos. Click on the screenshot you just took and go right to my Pinterest profile where you can follow me 🙂

Guinness Baked Beans

By adding 1 can of Guinness to this recipe (in the last 30 or so minutes of cooking) you'll add oomph and Irish spirit to the meal.

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2014/01/old-fashioned-baked-beans.html

Serve with Irish Soda Bread.
Happy St Patrick's Day!

Beef & Guinness Stew Pie

This pub-style stew pie is great with (garlic) mashed potatoes.

Makes 1 - 10 inch pie OR 1 - 9 inch deep pie

You can double the recipe and freeze one pie for later.

1 1/2 lbs (about 700 g) braising beef cut to small cubes

(I used blade roast, tried bourguignon beef once but that did not turn out  as well)

2 tbsp flour

3 tbsp canola oil

1/2 a large onion, diced

2 small carrots, diced

3 or 4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 cup beef stock

3/4 to 1 full can Guinness beer

1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Shortcrust pastry

Phyllo or puff pastry

(You'll see pictures of all variations here)

Preheat oven to 350F.  

Toss beef with 1 tbsp flour.  Heat heavy pan until very hot, then add 2 tbsps of oil and cook beef until outside is dark and caramelized. Set the seared beef aside. 

Reduce heat to medium and add the remaining 1 tbsp of oil, onions and carrots.  Sauté 2 minutes, then add garlic, bay leaves, thyme and remaining 1 tbsp flour. Add tomato paste and cook 1 minute.

Return beef to pan and pour in Guinness, beef stock and worcestershire sauce.  (Keep about 1/4 of the Guinness aside to add to stew if it seems to need it later).

Bring to a boil.  Place in oven covered with foil, but not tightly. Leave a couple of sides loose. Cook for 1 1/2 - 2 hours.  Check after about 1 hour as gravy will reduce.  Add the remaining Guinness (you didn't drink it did you?) if it looks like it might burn. If you drank the Guinness already you can add 1/4 cup of water  : )

When cooked, add salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

Use any shortcrust pastry you like for the bottom. Line pan and leave a slight overhang.  Preheat oven to 400F then blind bake for 5-10 minutes.

Now you can fill the shell with the stew. Brush the rim with either milk or whisked egg. Place a circle of puff pastry, shortcrust or phyllo on top and press the edges down. 

I have used this recipe for puff pastry from Canadian Living in the past and it's very good. http://www.canadianliving.com/food/quick_puff_pastry.php 

But in this picture I tried using store bought phyllo pastry. 

I laid one sheet over pie and folded the corners on top.  Then sprayed with cooking oil (Pam) and continued until I used 5 or 6 sheets of phyllo.

Brush the top with milk or egg wash and pop it in the oven for 25 minutes.

Of course you could use regular pastry for the top crust but....phyllo is so pretty : )

This is what the puff pastry version looks like.

And here's a variation. Short crust and heart cut-outs for Valentine's Day.

I hope this isn't too confusing to follow as I wanted to include some pics from all the different pastry variations.