Guinness Steak Pie

We've been so busy lately wrapping up final details for the wedding. Michael has been really busy too designing a new site for some friends that have their own honey business. He'll share it with you in our next post. Michael first stumbled upon this recipe at Kevin's site - Closet Cooking. Seemed only fitting that we try it for St. Patty's day! That's how tardy we are in posting this recipe. Well, that was the hope until we decided to start making it at about 6pm that night. Started reading down a few steps when we came to the 3 hr stewing section. Oops! Needless to say, it had to wait for another night. What's wrong with pizza and green beer to celebrate the holiday? So about a week later, we finally got around to making it. I must say, it is totally worth the time! Not a healthy recipe though - bacon and pie crust kind of ruin that. :)






It was only fitting that we serve this dish with a Guinness brew. Michael loves Guinness and it's growing on me. It's a tough beer to review since it simply does not compare to anything else. It truly has a one-of-a-kind flavor to it. The best thing I can describe it to is a beer milkshake. Not an overly strong bitter beer flavor just smooth and creamy. One of the coolest things about buying Guinness in the store is that you can see their little nitrogen balls they put in all their bottles in order to produce the right head when you pour.

Kevin's recipe calls for 2-3 hrs of cooking the meat. Ours wasn't nearly done after 3 hrs (beef not yet tender and soup still liquidy). I checked a couple other recipes for Guinness pie and found quite a number of variations - including adding flour to thicken it up. So I did just that, cooked it for an additional hr and it was good to go! We made a few other changes to the recipe (as posted below).

To cut up the cooking time, you can make the stew the day before. Just reheat it on the stove for a few minutes when you're ready to make the pie and all you have to do is pop it in the oven! We served the pie with peas - which seems to be the popular thing to serve with Guinness pie!

Ingredients

• 4 slices bacon, chopped
• 1 1/4 lbs beef stew meat, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 8 ounces mushrooms, quartered
• 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 bottle Guinness
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 pre-made pie crusts
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions

1. Cook bacon in a large pan and set aside (leaving grease in the pan).
2. Add beef to the pan and brown on all sides. Set aside.
3. Next add the onions, carrots, celery and mushrooms and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 10-15 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
4. Pour in the guinness and deglaze the pan.
5. dd the flour, stock, bacon, beef, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, rosemary and bay leaf and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce the heat and cover. Simmer until the beef is tender, about 3-4 hours. The stew should be dark and thick. If it's still pretty liquidy, continue to cook with lid off to reduce until thickened. Turn off heat and stir in 1/2 of the cheese.
7. Towards the end of the cook time, preheat oven to 375.
8. Put the first pie crust in the bottom of a pie plate. Carefully pour the beef stew in.
9. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the stew and cover with the top pie crust. Pinch the edges of the two crusts together to seal in the stew.
10. Brush the egg over the top of the pie crust (will only need about 1/2 of it).
11. Bake until golden brown on top, about 45 minutes.