Traditional Irish Guinness and Beef Stew Pie

Chunks of beef, potatoes and carrots stewed together in Guinness for a rich and comforting stew then topped with a puff pastry top. Divine!

Hi everyone!

I am proud to report that I am a qualified gym instructor now. I am so happy! I never thought I would have done this until I actually went out to do it. Now I am all the happier for it. So, the point I am trying to make is this – if you too are thinking of doing something, just believe in yourself and go for it. Don’t suffer by paralysis from analysis.

Moving on from the inspiration of the day, here is a recipe I tried over the weekend.

I was in Dublin over the Christmas Holidays and had excellent beef and Guinness stew. I knew I had to replicate it. After some searching I found a recipe that looked fool proof. The results were really good and I want to share it with you.

This was made in a pressure cooker. I stewed it for about an hour. If you are cooking it on the stove, the original recipe calls for it to be stewed for 2 hours.

Click Here for Printable Recipe

Recipe for Traditional Irish Guinness and Beef Stew Pie

Adapted from Clodagh McKenna’s Beef and Guinness Stew

Serves 4

Ingredients

To be blended

1 stalk of Celery (roughly chopped)

3 Carrots (roughly chopped)

1 Onion (peeled)

For the Stew

800gm Stewing Beef Chunks

4 Potatoes (peeled and cut into chunks)

3 Carrots (peeled and cut into chunks)

250gm Chestnut Mushrooms (halved)

25gm Butter

1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil

80gm Bacon (cubed)

500ml Guinness

500ml water mixed with 2 Beef Stock cubes

2 packets of Bouquet Garni

1 Tbsp cornstarch

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Pie Topping

Jus-Rol Light Puff Pastry (320gm)

Egg (lightly beaten and brushed over the pastry)

Method

1. Put all the ingredients that are to be blended into a food processor and blitz. The mixture should resemble a rough chop, not too fine.

2. Melt butter in pressure cooker, add in a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Once heated, add in the bacon and fry over medium heat. Once cooked, add in the blended ingredients and continue to fry until the ingredients are cooked down.

3. Next, add in the beef chunks and stir until the meat is browned. Now, add in the Guinness, water and beef stock mixture followed by the potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and bouquet garni. Stir through and close the pressure cooker. Cook for an hour. Once the pressure cooker starts to hiss, turn down the heat slightly.

4. After an hour, release the steam and pressure and open the cooker. Season the stew with salt and pepper to taste. Mix the cornflour with a bit of water and add in to thicken the stew. Dish out into a large casserole dish and leave to cool to room temperature.

5. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 220°c. The puff pastry I used was already rolled, so there was no need for me to roll it out. Once the stew has cooled sufficiently, lay out the puff pastry over the stew in the casserole dish and crimp the edges to the dish. Use a fork to mark the edges. Leave to rest for 10 minutes. Before baking, brush the pastry with the beaten egg. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and serve immediately.