Recipe for St. Patrick's Day

Kim Watters here. In honor of St. Patrick's Day next week, here is a traditional Irish recipe for Beef and Guinness Pie. 

 Let me know how yours turns out. Inquiring minds want to know.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours

Ingredients:

• FOR THE PASTRY
• 7 oz all purpose/plain flour
• pinch of salt
• 4 oz butter, cubed or an equal mix of butter and lard
• 2 -3 tbsp cold water
• 1 beaten egg, for glaze
• FOR THE FILLING
• 1oz all purpose/plain flour
• 1lb chuck steak cut into 1"/2.5cm cubes
• ¾ oz butter
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 large onions, thinly sliced
• 2 carrots chopped in to 1"/2.5cm cubes
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp tomato puree
• 17 fl/oz Guinness or stout
• 1½ pints hot beef stock
• 2 tsp sugar
• Salt and ground pepper

Preparation:

Make the pastry following these instruction

• Place the flour in a large bowl and season with salt and ground black pepper, add the cubes of meat and toss well in the flour until evenly coated.
• Heat the butter and oil in a large, heavy-based, flameproof casserole dish until the butter has melted. Add the meat to the fat in small batches and brown quickly all over for just a minute, then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
• Add the onions and carrots to the pan and fry gently for about 2 minutes then return the meat to the pan with the Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree, ale stock and sugar. Grind in plenty of black pepper and a little salt, stir well and bring to the boil. Cover, reduce to a gentle simmer and cook slowly for about 2 hours until the meat is tender and the sauce has thickened and is glossy. Remove from the heat, place into a 2½ pint/1.5 liter deep pie dish and leave to cool completely.
• Heat oven to 400F.
• Roll out the pastry to 1/8"/3mm. Cut a ¾"/2cm strip from the rolled-out pastry. Brush the rim of the pie dish with water and place the pastry strip around the rim, pressing it down. Cut out the remaining pastry about 1"/2.5cm larger than the dish. Sit a pie funnel in the center of the filling; it will support the pastry and stop it from sinking into the filling and becoming soggy.
• Place the pastry lid over the top and press down to the edge and seal. trim off any excess pastry an crimp the edges with a fork or between your thumb and forefinger. Brush the top with beaten egg and make a hole in the center to reveal the pie funnel. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden.

Optional - You can decorate the top of the pie with pastry trimmings as you like. 

taken from original source About.com

http://britishfood.about.com/od/recipeindex/r/beefalepie.htm