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Hearty beefy pie for a fall night

Sometimes, you just need an easy homemade dinner. Especially when you already took a week off from blogging. So, when I saw this beef pie recipe used mostly frozen vegetables, saving on chopping, I couldn’t resist.

Beef pot pie ingredients.

Plus, the dough — which the recipe says can be store-bought, but after a year of making pies, I just don’t trust any dough but my own — only goes on top so it’s less work and less baking time. 

Oh, and did I mention there was beer?! And not just any beer but a Guinness!

The only problem with the recipe was its calling for mushrooms, but that was easily mended by replacing it with carrots, which was the only thing I ended up chopping. And frankly, since the meal nearly overflowed its container as is, even though it called for a 9-inch skillet, the carrot could be skipped. 

Otherwise, it was everything that it advertised. Simple. Tasty. Hearty. 

Sometimes, you can’t ask for more than that.

“X” marks the spot where there’s a very delicious meat pie filling underneath a yummy buttery crust.

Here’s what I did: 

Ingredients

  • 1 T. olive oil
  • 1 lb. lean ground beef
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 3 T. tomato paste
  • 1 c. frozen pearl onions
  • 2 t. thyme
  • 3 T. all-purpose flour
  • 8 oz. Guinness
  • 1 c. frozen butternut squash pieces
  • 1 c. frozen peas
  • 1 pie crust, store-bought or homemade and chilled
  • 1 large egg, beaten

Directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees. 

Meanwhile, heat oil in a 9-inch skillet on the stove top over medium heat. Add the beef, carrots, and salt and pepper, to taste, and cook, breaking up the beef with a spoon until browned, about 6 minutes. Add the tomato paste, and cook for another 2 minutes. Stir in the onions, and thyme, and then sprinkle with flour, stirring, for about 30 seconds. 

Add the stout and simmer until the liquid has thickened, about 1 minute. Add ½ c. water and bring to a simmer. Add the squash and peas, return to a simmer, and then remove from heat. The dish will be fairly full, but it’ll make a nice hearty pie. 

Roll out, or unroll if using store bought, the pastry dough into about a 10- to 12-inch round, and place on top of the still-hot filling, tucking in the remainder of the dough around the edges. Cut an “X” in the middle, and brush with egg.

Bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes until the crust is golden. Let rest for about 5 minutes, and then enjoy!

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Start St. Pat’s right with beef stew

I admit if I really wanted to do St. Patrick’s Day right I would have made corned beef and cabbage, but beef stew sounded better.

Guinness beef stew ingredients.

I found an ideally titled recipe for Guinness beef stew and thought this would be the perfect time to make it. Then, I looked at the recipe and found its ingredients, aside from the Guinness, to not really be my tastes.

So, I started looking for what would be my tastes and found that I didn’t see a single beef stew recipe that looked up my alley. Then, I just decided to make my own recipe.

The ingredients were all the things I thought would be in my ideal beef stew and then just added Guinness to that.

Mercifully, it worked perfectly. Well, again, to my tastes.

My only mistake was a tad too many potatoes. I wanted to clip up the three large russets we had and uh, that made for a pretty potato-y stew. But there are worse things.

It was time consuming, but that was expected. And it’s not very difficult or active time so that’s OK too. All in all, it’s just a good weekend dish.

Beer and beef, what could be better?!

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

  • 2 lb. beef chunks
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 2 T. oil
  • 3 small to medium onions, chopped
  • 6 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 can or ½ pint diced tomatoes
  • 1 c. flour
  • 20 oz Guinness
  • 4 c. broth (any will do)
  • 4 carrots, chopped
  • 1 parsnip, chopped
  • 3 medium potatoes, chopped
  • 4 celery, chopped
  • 1 ½ c. frozen peas
  • 1 T. Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 t. dried oregano
  • Parsley, chopped

Directions

Heat Dutch oven over medium heat and add 1 to 2 T. oil. Brown beef chunks 5 to 10 minutes, adding salt and pepper as you stir. Add onions and cook another 5 minutes. Add garlic and tomatoes and cook another 1 to 2 minutes.

Add flour and stir it in until mixed 1 to 2 minutes more.

Slowly add Guinness and broth, and cook until boiling. Reduce heat, cover, and cook on the stove top for about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oven to 325 degrees.

After about 45 minutes, add parsnips, potatoes, carrots, and celery to the Dutch oven. Cover again and cook in the oven for an hour and a half or so.

Add Worcestershire sauce, oregano, parsley, and peas. Cook in the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool for 5 to 10 minutes, and enjoy!