Comfort Food a Trois

If all the cooking was left to me in this household we'd eat a lot more Kraft mac n' cheese than we do now, however luckily for me my sister likes to cook and she lives "next door" so to speak.  Actually we share this house, she lives upstairs and we live downstairs.  So when she offered to cook the other night I jumped for joy, something yummy and delicious was to be had.  I also offered to help so that I could take pictures and post it with FringeGirl for her blog carnival on comfort food over at the domestic fringe.  I love it when a plan comes together!

Here's what we made:

Mammy McT's Beef and Guinness Pie.

2 lbs stewing steak, cubed.  (Coat this in 1/2 to 1 cup flour, salt and fresh ground black pepper.)
4 Tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 parsnips, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 cup button mushrooms
3 stalks of celery, finely chopped
2 cans of diced tomatoes
2 1/2 cups Guinness
1 egg, beaten
1 pkg of puff pastry (you can buy it frozen, there are two sheets per package)

1.  Open the Guiness . . .  pour yourself a short glass and enjoy, but remember to leave enough for the recipe.

2.  Season the flour with salt and pepper.  Coat the stewing steak in the flour.  Shake off any excess.  Heat the olive oil in a frying pan or cast iron casserole pan.

3.  In small batches, fry the beef until browned.  Using a slotted spoon transfer to a plate.  

4.  Re-heat the pan and fry the onion, garlic and celery for 5-10 minutes until fragrant and softened.  Add some of the Guinness to deglaze the pan and scrape all the really good bits off the bottom.  Add the beef back into the pan.

5.  Put on medium high heat now and add the diced tomatoes, Guinness, mushrooms, carrots and parsnips.  Season with salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and let simmer for two hours stirring every now and again.

6.  Preheat oven to 375 F.  Divide the beef mixture among 6 smallish individual pie/casserole dishes or two medium size pie dishes.  Roll the puff pasty out and top each pie dish with a pastry lid, wetting the edges of the dishes with water to help the pastry stick.

7.  Brush the pies with the beaten egg and cut a slash in each one.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the pies are golden brown.  Serve.

8.  Enjoy with a pint or two of Guinness.

As you can see this recipe makes two pies, we cooked them both because my in-laws were here and we knew we would eat them both, but you can freeze one for later, just don't add the puff pasty to the second one, until you are ready to cook it.

My sister acquired this recipe from a friend of hers from Ireland several years back and it has quickly became a family favorite.  Mammy McT is her grandmother.