A delicious beef stew covered with a homemade pastry crust loaded with cheese and fresh herbs. Definitely worth the effort!

It's three days before St. Patrick's Day, which falls on a Sunday this year, and I am feeling we will stay home and I will cook. Though I am part Irish, I'm not a huge fan of the "Irish" bar music often played in the U.S., and I'm not a fan of green beer. Or crowds. Best to stay home and whip up a few dishes. Friday night I reprised my Rosemary-Dijon Rack of Lamb recipe and served it with a wild rice and mushroom side and some lemon butter green beans. It was delicious! Saturday was delectable Corned Beef Reubens with a cup of soup. That, too, was great! What to do for Sunday? I'm thinking Guinness Stew. Lo and behold, an Irish gentleman named Donal Skehan shows up on the Today show with a recipe for Beef and Guinness Pie with a Cheddar Crust. We have a winner for St. Paddy's Day dinner!

I make a mean beef stew, so I am sure I will go off-recipe for this part, but the crust sounds so good I will follow his instructions for sure. What could possibly go wrong? Let's do this!

INGREDIENTS FOR THE STEW:

2.5 lbs. beef sirloin tips, cut into 1" pieces
1.5 cups of all-purpose flour
1 T. each salt and pepper
1 T. Old Bay Seasoning (I am addicted to this stuff, it's a problem)
1 T. dried thyme
1 large onion, chopped
3 large carrots, chopped
3 celery stalks cleaned and chopped, leaves included
1 each red, yellow and orange bell pepper, chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms, any kind
(1) 15 oz. can of Guinness
3/4 cup of beef or chicken stock
1 bay leaf
Good quality olive oil or canola oil

I love sirloin tips in a beef stew, they are tender, flavorful and delicious! Dredge them in seasoned flour and brown in batches.

The first step is to combine the flour, salt, pepper, Old Bay and dried thyme in a bowl and gently dredge the beef, adding to a heavy heated pan with a good swirl of oil so as not to crowd them. Turn the beef when brown and then remove to a separate bowl. Add another batch and continue until done. DO NOT DISCARD THE SEASONED FLOUR as we will be using it as a thickener in just a bit! When the beef is done, add another small swirl of oil and add the onion, carrots and celery to the same pan. The bottom of the pan should develop a nice brown surface without burning. When the veggies are halfway cooked, add the mushrooms and peppers and stir, cooking for another 5 minutes or so. Create a well in the middle of the pan, add some oil (1/4 cup or so) plus an equal part of the seasoned flour and stir until well-blended and the flour cooks out (about 3 - 5 minutes). This is the thickener, or roux. Return the meat to the stew pot and add your liquids, the bay leaf, any additional salt, pepper and/or dried thyme and stir. Time to bubble.

carrots, onions and celery rendering down

Developing flavor in the pan is key! First brown the beef, then sweat the veggies in the same pan. Create the roux (thickener), return the beef to the pan, add your liquids and seasoning, then simmer, simmer, simmer!

Once your stew is assembled and simmmering away, put the lid on and have a black and tan. It's St. Patrick's Day, after all. A Black and Tan consists of 1/2 glass of Bass Ale and 1/2 glass of Guinness, layered. Pouring the Guinness onto a spoon helps with the layering thing.

Not a huge beer girl, but a Black and Tan on St. Patrick’s Day is almost compulsory.

OK, back to the dish! The stew is bubbly, thick and delicious (please taste and add more salt/pepper/thyme if you want). It's time to tackle the pastry. Pie crust makes me nervous. It's always crumbling and falling apart. For a fruit pie, Ina Garten's Perfect Pastry crust has changed my life, it rolls like a dream and never lets me down. Previously, though, I've struggled. Since this crust is unique, I want to use it so I am following the recipe to a T.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CRUST:

2 cups all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons very cold butter, cut into small cubes
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 - 4 tablespoons (or more) ice cold water
3½ ounces cheddar cheese, finely grated
1 tablespoon thyme leaves, finely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
One additional egg plus a splash of water for an egg-wash

I assemble my ingredients and pray for the best. Food processor or by hand? Way too lazy to drag the processor out so we are doing this by hand! I first combine the flour, thyme leaves and cold butter in a bowl and frantically search for my pastry cutter. I cannot find it anywhere. We are going old school. Two butter knives come out and I cut and cut until the butter is the size of peas. I can see there are larger pieces as well but we're going with this. The egg, balsamic vinegar and salt are combined in another bowl, whisked until blended and added to the flour mixture, along with the cheddar cheese. I am excited to see what the balsamic does to the flavor! It is looking like a hot mess. Time to add the water. It does not appear to be coming together, so I end up using 4 T. of water -- or more. Still looks awful. I press it into a disc as best as I can, wrap it in plastic wrap and get it in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes. A miracle better take place in there or we'll be having stew for dinner, which would not be tragic, but it ain't no pie.

dry ingredients and butter mixed together

rolling out the dough into the shape of the dish

It wasn’t pretty but I got ‘er done. Now I have to get that crumbly disc onto the pie. Pies are stressful.

While the pie crust chills, I turn the heat off on the stew and ladle it into a 9" pie pan, becasue I don't have an 8" one. The stew cools, the pie crust chills, I did manage to roll it out while creating a huge mess, and got it on top of the pie plate. Almost done!!

The crust made the top of the pie with minimal patching! Time for an egg wash and a bake!

I check the recipe for an oven temp and there is not one. Really? I go with 375 degrees for 30 minutes and it works out fine! Of course it is running all over the oven because of course I did not put a cookie sheet lined with tin foil under it. Note to self: clean oven tomorrow.

Beef and Guinness Pie with Cheddar and Thyme crust. Delicious and a great St. Paddy’s Day meal! Serve with beer and a green salad.

Over all it came out great! Gotta work on my pastry skills, though. Will post again in advance of next year's holiday. On to Cinco de Mayo!!

Beef & Guinness Pie with Cheddar Crust Recipe