Beef and Guinness Pies

This is a classic northern European dish in which Guinness beer is used to braise the beef. Each individual pie is topped with puff pastry. The end result is an absolutely delicious beef stew.

Ingredients

4 tablespoon all-purpose flour divided

2 lb boneless beef chuck (Blade), cut into 1-inch pieces

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

4 Cups sliced, sauteed mushrooms

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

3 Tablespoons water

1 1/2 Tablespoons tomato paste

2 cups beef broth

1 cup chilled Guinness (no foam)

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 thyme sprigs

3-4 Cups potatoes, cut into small bite size pieces

1 sheet puff pastry from a 17.3-oz package frozen puff pastry, thawed

Egg wash made by beating 1 large egg with 1 Tbsp water

I made 7 individual pies

Cooking Directions

You can use deep ovenproof bowls or ramekins or similar capacity ovenproof dishes. I used rectangular foil pans. Measuring 5 1/8 by 4 1/16 by 1 ⅝ inches. You can use french onion soup bowls for the oven or disposable deep dish individual aluminum pie pans.  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with rack in middle.

Stir together flour, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper in a shallow dish. Dredge beef in flour, shaking off excess; transfer to a plate.

Heat oil in a wide 5- to 6-qt ovenproof heavy pot over medium-high heat until just smoking, then brown meat in 3 batches, about 5 minutes per batch, transferring to a bowl, set aside.

Add onion, garlic, and water (3 Tbsp) to pot and cook, stirring and scraping up brown bits, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, 1 minute.

Add 2 Tablespoons flour. Stir and cook for one minute.

Stir in beef broth, beer and Worcestershire sauce. Add mushrooms, beef and remaining beef juices. Add thyme and bring to a simmer, then cover with lid and put in oven. Braise until beef is very tender, about 11/4 to 11/2 hours.

Discard thyme and cool stew completely, uncovered, about 30 minutes. (Warm stew will melt uncooked pastry top.)

Preheat oven temperature to 425 degrees.

Divide cooled stew among bowls or pie tins.Roll out pastry dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into about a 12 inch square. Drape each pie with the dough, pressing sides lightly to adhere.

Brush pastry tops with egg wash and freeze 15 minutes to thoroughly chill dough.

Bake pies in preheated pan until pastry is puffed and golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.

Cooks' note : Stew (without pastry) can be made 2 days ahead, cooled completely, and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature

Print Recipe:Beef and Guinness Pies

Dredge cubed meat in seasoned flour. Brown meat in batches using vegetable as needed. Remove meat to a plate after browning and set aside.

Add onion, garlic and water to the same pot.Stirring and scraping up brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until onions are soft.

Add tomato paste, cook for about one minute.

Stir in 2 tablespoons flour. cook 1 minute.

Stir in beef broth, beer and Worcestershire sauce.

Keep stirring until all mixed well.

Stir in mushrooms.

Stir in beef and remaining beef juices.

Stir in thyme.

Stir in potatoes.

Braise beef with lid on in a 350 degree oven until the beef is very tender, about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours.

Remove stew from the oven. Add more beef broth if the liquid in the stew evaporated during cooking. Cool the mixture.

Divide among the pie pans. 

Thaw the puff pastry in the fridge. Roll the dough onto to a lightly floured surface to the desired thickness (12 inch square). Drape each pie with dough, pressing lightly to adhere to dish. . Brush each pie with egg wash. Place pies in freezer to chill dough before baking.

Here I used ovenproof bowls and just placed the puff pastry over top.

Bake in 425 degree oven for 20-30 minutes, until golden and dough nicely puffed.