This blog may give the false illusion that everything is always perfect in our kitchen and that our dinner is always delicious and served at 7:30 on the dot. This is not the case at all, and last Thursday night proved that some nights chaos often rules our kitchen.
I had found some really great beef stew meat on sale at Whole Foods last week, so I spent all week trying to figure out what to make with it. I eventually decided on Jaime Oliver’s Beef, Guinness, and Cheese Pie because we have been largely eating vegetarian and healthy lately, so I was really craving something meaty, cheesy, and topped in puff pastry!
I had quickly glanced over the recipe in the morning to see how long it would take and whether I needed to start stewing the beef before I went on a job interview in the afternoon. I decided that this wasn’t necessary and that I had more than enough time when I got home to make the pie.
Fast forward to 6 pm when I start making the pie and notice that it takes 2 1/2 hours to braise the meat and then an additional 45 minutes after that to cook the pie. D’oh! Thankfully Carlo brought home a baguette and some cheese so we could have a snack while we waited for the pie to cook. Even though we ended up eating around 10 pm, the pie was excellent with a light crispy topping and a thick stewy filling. In fact, it even tasted good reheated last night and played its role as comfort food superbly after I learned that I didn’t get the job after all.
I highly recommend this pie as a tasty fall treat, but do yourself a favour and stew the meat during the afternoon before you make the pie, or even make the filling the night before. This Beef, Guinness, and Cheese Pie makes enough for 6 large dinners at $3.17 per serving.
Beef, Guinness, and Cheese Pie, adapted from Jaime Oliver
olive oil
3 medium red onions, peeled and chopped
5 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 ounce butter
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 sticks of celery, trimmed and chopped
8 mushrooms, peeled and sliced
2 1/4 pounds stewing beef, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 can of Guinness
2 heaped tablespoons plain flour
6 ounces freshly grated aged Cheddar cheese
1 pound frozen puff pastry, defrosted (you could halve this if you want to lighten the dish a little)
1 large egg, beaten
Preheat the oven to 375¬?F. In a large Dutch oven, heat up some olive oil over a low heat. Add the chopped onions and gently fry them for about 10 minutes without adding too much colour. Turn up the heat to medium, and add the garlic, butter, carrots, celery, and mushrooms. Mix everything together before stirring in the beef, rosemary,¬† salt, and pepper.
Let everything cook for a few minutes and pour in the Guinness. Stir in the flour and add just enough water to the pot so that all of the meat is covered. Bring the dish to a simmer, then put the cover on the pan and place it in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours. After this initial cooking period, take out the pan and stir the stew. Then put the dish back in the oven for 1 additional hour, or until the meat is very tender.
If when you take the stew out of the oven after 2 1/2 hours of cooking the stew is quite liquid-y, place the pot on the stove and let the sauce reduce. Once the stew is at a nice thickness, stir in half of the grated cheese and season to taste.
Take both sheets of the defrosted puff pastry and roll them out together with a floured rolling pin on a dusted surface to form a sheet of pastry that will cover the top of your dish. Pour the stew into a large baking dish and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Roll the sheet of puff pastry over the top of the dish and fold the overhanging pastry around the dish to make a nice lid. Lightly criss-cross the pastry with a sharp knife and then brush the top with a beaten egg glaze.
Bake the pie on the bottom of the oven for 45 minutes, or until the pastry is cooked, and all puffy and golden.
