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St. Patrick’s Day Recipes

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Whether you are Irish or not, I believe we all need the luck of the Irish right now! St. Patrick’s Day is special in our home as it is the birthday of both my daughter and my mother. To learn more about the history of this holiday, please click here . Today, I have two recipes for you: Guinness Pie and Baileys Irish cream cheesecake.

Last year, I made both of these recipes and since they were so delicious, I made them again! The original recipe for Guinness Pie was published in the New York Times but if you try and get it online, they make you pay for a weekly subscription. Not sure how I scored a paper copy of it, but the printable recipe is below. I will provide a link to the cheesecake recipe.

If you need a pie crust shortcut, I strongly recommend Trader Joe’s pie crust. It’s in the freezer section and I always have a couple on hand. It is the best 2nd choice to homemade.

Before I start any recipe, I gather all my ingredients.

Since this recipe requires a bit of chopping, having sharp knives is important. The sharper the knife the safer the chop.

With all the vegetables chopped and ready to go, cooking commences.

Carrots, celery, onion, garlic, mushrooms are cooked in a oven-safe pot. I used my one and only La Creuset pot~~which I love (and wish I had a few more!). While this cooks, your kitchen will smell so good!

The recipe calls for 3 pounds of brisket. Though it does not instruct to trim the fat from the brisket, I did~~about 7 oz. of it. The fresh rosemary was clipped from the garden. If you don’t have an herb garden, I really encourage you to have fresh herbs in a pot. Simple pleasures.

The recipe also calls for 4 cups of stout beer. I had two bottles of Guinness but when I measured it, the volume was only 3 cups. However, the beer did cover the beef in the pot, so I didn’t add more.

What makes this stew so delicious, is that, after sautéing all the vegetables and beef, it is slow-baked in the oven for 2 1/2 hours. After the appropriate baking time, freshly shredded cheddar cheese is added (or trotter gear, if you have it).

The dough can be placed in either a 8-inch square Pyrex dish or a pie pan. I used a 9″ deep dish glass pie dish. After I added the beef stew, I put the remaining cheddar cheese on top and then added a basketweave top crust using different widths of dough. With the leftover dough, I used shamrock cookie cutters for a decorative touch.

Using green food coloring, I painted the shamrocks with a pastry brush. This was the first time I had done this and was rather pleased with the results.

This is such a flavorful, hearty pie, which is perfect for this time of year. Though the recipe yields 6 servings, I could easily get 8 out of the pie.

The next recipe is very decadent but such a festive dessert for St. Patrick’s Day. Just a note: The recipe recommends a 5 hour refrigeration time so plan accordingly. Here is the direct link to the cheesecake recipe~~click here.

For the crust, put whole Oreo cookies in the Cuisinart to get 2 cups of crumbs~~approximately 18 to 20 cookies. Mix in melted butter.

The recipe tells you to put the crumbs in a spring form pan, yet isn’t clear on if they only go on the bottom or up the sides. Keep the crust on the bottom (per the pictures on the link). Bake for 8-10 minutes.

The directions were a little vague about wrapping the springform pan. I wrapped the bottom and the sides with double foil to make sure no water would enter during the hot bath.

Once the cheesecake is finished baking and has cooled, it needs to be refrigerated for at least 5 hours or overnight. I let mine cool overnight and made the chocolate ganache the next day.

This picture below is of the cheesecake from last year. My ganache is much shinier this year but since I haven’t cut into it yet, I wanted to show you what a slice looked like! I hope you try both recipes~~guarantee you will love them!

As always, I hope you are faring well with all the uncertainty. But we all know, that this too will pass. Please take care of your health and well-being as the roses will continue to bloom and the sun will rise. Being stressed certainly doesn’t help. It actually reduces your immune system. Kindness, laughter and hope haven’t been cancelled and I’m determined to stay focused and positive. Sending happy thoughts your way.


Guinness Pie

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1012397-guinness-pie

  • 4 Tbsp butter
  • 2 large red onions (chopped)
  • 4 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 2 carrots (peeled and chopped)
  • 2 ribs celery (chopped)
  • 10 mushrooms (trimmed and sliced)
  • 3 lbs brisket (preferably second-cut) or stew meat (chopped into bite-size pieces)
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 Tbsp flour
  • 1 sprig rosemary
  • 4 cups (2 cans) Guinness or other stout
  • 1 cup trotter gear or 8 ounces Cheddar (freshly grated)

For the Pastry

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) very cold unsalted butter (diced)
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1 egg yolk (lightly beaten)

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

  2. In a large, ovenproof pan fitted with a lid, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium-low heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until soft, about 10 minutes.

  3. Add the carrots, celery, mushrooms and remaining 2 tablespoons butter and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms are dark in color and the moisture released by them has evaporated, about 15 minutes.

  4. Season the beef pieces all over with salt and pepper. Add the beef, flour and rosemary to the pan and cook over high heat, stirring often, for about 5 minutes.

  5. Add enough Guinness to just cover the beef. Cover the pan and put it in the oven for 1 1/2 hours. Remove from the oven and stir. If using trotter gear (http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1012399-fergus-hendersons-trotter-gear), stir it in now. If using Cheddar, fold in about half. Return to the oven and cook for 1 hour more. If it remains thin, set the pan over medium-low heat, remove the lid and reduce the liquid.

  6. While the stew is cooking, prepare the pastry: sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Using a pastry cutter or your hands, quickly work the butter into the dough until it is the texture of coarse meal. Add ice water, a splash at a time, until a firm dough forms. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

  7. Place the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap and, using a rolling pin, roll to the thickness of a computer mouse pad. Pour the stew into an 8-inch-square, 2-inch-high Pyrex dish or a deep 9-inch pie pan. If using Cheddar, scatter the remaining cheese across the top. Place the dough on the top of the pie and pinch it closed around the edges using the tines of a fork, then slash the center lightly with a knife. Brush with the egg yolk, place on a baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes, or until the pastry is puffy and golden

I use a Trader Joe’s frozen pie crust and did both a bottom and a top crust.  This is optional as the recipe only uses a top crust.