There’s no greater comfort food than a big, hearty stew. Topped with flaky, buttery puffed pastry, you’ve got yourself a rustic pot pie. Guinness Beer gives the base an incredibly rich, deep flavour and the beef is fall apart tender.
We are at the tail end of winter here in Vancouver – it’s not quite time to fire up the barbeque yet so I find myself turning to comfort foods. Cooking with puff pastry may seem intimidating, but it’s really very easy! To make this recipe even simpler, if that’s your thing, omit the puff pastry step and serve this wonderful stew over mashed potatoes or with a hunk of bread. The stew is even better the next day and freezes really well.
Tips:
- I like to use grass fed chuck beef for this recipe. It’s lean, high in Omega 3 and is naturally rich in nutrients, including Vitamin B, Vitamin E and iron.
- Use frozen peeled pearl onions. This will save you lots of time!
- When adding the puff pastry to the top of ramekins make sure to prick holes in the pastry and check that it doesn’t touch the stew. This will ensure that steam can escape and pastry puffs up and cooks through.
Rustic Beef and Guinness Pot Pie
A hearty and flavourful stew topped with flaky, buttery puff pastry. Comfort food at its best!
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 1 kg chuck stewing meat cut into bite size pieces
- 2 pinches salt
- 4 slices bacon diced
- 2 carrots peeled and diced
- 3 stalk of celery diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp dried thyme
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 large can Guinness
- 2 cups beef broth
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ cup flour mixed in 1/3 cup water for thickening
- 2 cups mushrooms quartered
- 2 cups pearl onions peeled
- 2 tbsp Worchestershire sauce
- 1 pkg of Tenderflake puff pastry thawed
- flour for rolling out pastry
- 1/3 cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Heat frying pan over high heat, add canola oil and working in small batches, brown the meat on two sides. Add to medium dutch oven.
- Add bacon, carrots, celery and garlic to frying pan, sauté until onions are translucent. Stir in tomato paste, thyme and salt and pepper and add to dutch oven.
- Add mushrooms, onions, Guinness, beef broth, bay leaves and flour/water mixture to dutch oven, stir, cover with lid and place in oven. Cook for 1 ½ hrs.
- Ladle stew into 4 (14-ounce) ramekins, filling to one inch from the top. Let cool slightly.
- Roll out thawed puff pastry on a lightly floured surface to a 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out 4 circles that are 1 inch wider than ramekins. Prick each pastry circle several times with a fork.
- Brush a little milk around outside of ramekins. Top each ramekin with a puff pastry circle, pressing edges over sides to seal, making that pastry is taut. Brush pastry with a little milk.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Transfer ramekins to a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until puff pastry is deep golden brown and filling is bubbling, 35-40 minutes.
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