Guinness again: Guinness Beef Pie

It's Guinness again! Although this time around, it's a savoury pie and not a cake. You must be thinking that I really like Guinness but the opposite is true. I don't like the taste of Guinness as a drink, but somehow it adds a different taste when added to food.

I don't make pies often as I find them quite tedious. You have to make the filling and then the crust and assemble the pie.  I have been wanting to make my own pies since I visited Pies and Coffee about 2 weeks ago. They really have amazing pies there, some with very local flavours like Laksa Seafood.

I have always wondered how Guinness Beef Pie tasted like so have decided to try making my own after searching through several recipes online. I made the filling as a sort of soup/stew the day before for dinner and made the pie the next day for lunch. I have also opted to use ready-made pastry as they save time.

Guinness Beef Pie

800g Beef chuck (diced)
1 large white Onion (diced)
3 medium carrots (diced)
1 can plum tomatoes
250ml Guinness
5-6 bay leaves
salt
black pepper
Olive oil
Ready-made puffy pastry sheets
1 egg for egg wash

1) Using some olive oil and a non-stick pan, brown the diced beef chuck. Set aside
2) Using the same pan, stir fry the white onion till soft and fragrant. Add carrots and bay leaves.
3) Return the browned beef and add the plum tomatoes and Guinness.
4) Once it comes to a boil, lower the fire and let it simmer for 2 hours (or use a thermal pot like I did) till the beef is tender.
5) Add salt and black pepper to taste. (This would be your beef soup/stew, can be served with bread and salad)
6) Add some cornflour to thicken the soup/stew
7) Ladle some beef stew into ramekins and cut the puffy pastry to slighter larger than remekins. Cover the ramkeins with the puff pastry (do not defrost your puff pastry sheets before use)

8) Brush some beaten egg on the puff pastry.

9) Pre-heat your oven at 180 deg C.
10) Bake the pies for 30 mins till the pastry has turned golden brown.

You can make this pies in advance and freeze them before baking. Just pop them into the oven and serve.
I have a few pies now in my freezer for my guests on Wednesday.

Updated 18 November: Heated up 2 frozen pies at 200 deg C for 30 mins and enjoyed hot beef pies on a wet rainy day!

1st Blog: Guinness Chocolate Cake

Hello everyone

This is the first time I am writing a blog. I love cooking and baking and have always posted photos of my dishes and cakes on Facebook. A friend have asked me several times if I have a blog as she would love to replicate some of the recipes but I have always been too busy to start blogging. Since I am currently on a career sabbatical and trying out new recipes very often, I thought I will give this a try. Char, this is for you :)

I am starting my first blog with a decadent cake: Guinness Chocolate Cake by Nigella Lawson (with some modifications). I love Nigella's recipes and was introduced to her by a close friend in 2010. I have tried this recipe once last year for a baking contest in the office and the judges love the combination. The cake is moist and the taste of Guinness is not very obvious. I would probably try making a Guinness buttercream to go with the cake next time to increase the taste of Guinness.

Guinness Chocolate Cake

1 can Guinness Stout (320ml can)
250g Butter
45g Cocoa powder
80ml Yoghurt
100g Brown sugar
50g Caster sugar
2 large Eggs
1/2 tbsp Vanilla essence
275g Plain flour
2 1/2 tsp baking soda

1) Pre-heat the oven at 180 deg C
2) Melt the butter and Guinness Stout together on low fire.
3) Remove from the above mixture from heat, whisk in both types of sugar and cocoa powder. Set aside.
4) Beat the yoghurt, eggs and vanilla essence together using a hand whisk.
5) Add the yoghurt mixture into the Guinness mixture and mix well.
6) Sieve the flour together with baking soda.
7) Add the sieved flour into the Guinness mixture and mix till smooth.
8) Pour the batter into a greased and lined cake tin
9) Bake for 45mins - 55 mins

I have used a bundt pan this time and have drizzled some Dulce de Leche over the cake.

Hope you enjoy this cake like I have.


Update: The Guinness taste is much stronger after 2 days. So patience, patience, patience. Look at how moist the cake is! For this slice, I have spread on some leftover chocolate frosting! Double chocolate!