St Patrick’s Day Beef and Guinness Stew

Another staple of St Patrick’s Day is the pint of plain. Guinness, Ireland’s famous black stout, has been brewed in Dublin since 1759.  This Beef and Guinness Stew benefits particularly from being cooked the day before, allowing the flavours to mellow. The Guinness helps tenderise the meat and gives a lovely gutsy flavour to this stew. It may be cooked either on the stove top or in the oven. This stew like many others, tastes even better when eaten a day or two after it is made.

Ingredients

500 ml of Guinness

1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard

Sprig of fresh rosemary

2 bay leaves

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 lb 4 oz lean stewing beef, cut in cubes

olive oil

2 chopped onions

2 cloves of garlic

1 oz butter

6 oz mushrooms, quartered

1 tablespoon flour

3/4 pint of beef  stock

2 carrots peeled and diced

 2 stalks of celery

Method

Put the Guinness into a non-metallic bowl and stir in the mustard. Add the rosemary and the bay leaves and season with salt and pepper. Add the cubes of beef, stir and cover. Stand in a cool place for a few hours, or leave overnight.

Drain the beef from the Guiness marinade. Heat the oil in a pan and brown off the meat, then transfer to a casserole. When browing the mat, do do in small batches in order to keep the heat high. Next, lightly fry the onion and garlic on the pan and transfer also to the casserole. Melt the butter in the pan and fry the mushrooms. Then stir in the flour to make a paste.  Stir in the beef stock before transferring it all to the casserole. Then stir in the  reserved marinade.

Add the carrots and celery to the casserole. Bring to the boil, then cover and transfer the casserole to the preheated oven, 170C, 325F, Gas 3. Cook for about two hours, or until the meat is tender.

St Patrick’s Day Tartlets

 

St Patrick’s Day which takes place next Tuesday, 17th March,  is a great day of celebration throughout the world. It’s a day when people celebrate their Irish connections, however tenuous with festivity, music, food and drink.  To celebrate the day, I am going to serve up these tartlets, the colours of which you will see reflect the green white and gold of the Irish flag. I make these very simple for myself by using bought shortcrust or puff pastry for the tart cases.

 

  

Roasted Squash, Spinach and Goats Cheese Tartlets

 

Ingredients

Filling

250g prepared butternut squash

I tblsp olive oil

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 225g spinach, washed and large stalks removed
• 150g goats cheese
• 2 large eggs
• 200 ml cream
• 40g farmhouse cheese, grated

 Method  

• Divide the pastry into 6 even sized pieces, rolling each piece out on a lightly floured surface and roll out into aprox 15 cm discs. 
• Use these to line 6 lightly oiled 10cm tartlet tins that are 3 cm deep. Chill for 20 mins. 
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6, 200C, 400F. 
• Cut the prepared butternut squash into 2.5 cm pieces. 
• Place in a roasting tin with the olive oil and salt and pepper and roast until tender.Line the tartlet cases with squares of crumbled greaseproof paper and a thin layer of baking beans and bake blind for 15 mins. Remove the paper and beans and return to the oven for a futher 5-6 mins until crisp and biscuit coloured. 
•  Heat a large pan over a medium high heat, add the spinach and cook for 2-3 mins until it has wilted. Tip into a colander and gently press out the excess liquid. Season. 
• Break the goats cheese into small pieces. 
•  Remove the tartlet cases from the oven and lower the oven to Gas 5, 190C, 375F. Arrange the veg in the cases. 
• Now beat the eggs and cream together in a jug with 25g of the grated cheese and some seasoning. Pour into each case and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
• Place on a baking sheet and bake for 20 mins until set and lightly golden.

  Serve warm with some rocket salad.

  

Adapted from An Bord Bia, Irish Food Board.

 

 You might also like to try:

Irish Soda Bread

Irish Fruit Cake