St Paddy’s Day Dinner: Beef and Guinness pie with colcannon

Get into the St Patrick’s Day spirit with this delicious Irish themed dinner. Enjoy a beef, mushroom and Guinness pie with a beautiful side of Colcannon! Delicious and easy to make, you will love this festive treat.

Ingredients

FOR THE PIE FILLING

• 60g butter
• 1 onion – peeled and sliced
• 2 cloves garlic – finely chopped
• 120g mushrooms – stems trimmed and quartered
• 500g chuck steak – trimmed and cubed
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 200ml beef stock
• 200ml Guinness
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• For pie: puff pastry sheets
• Egg wash: 1 beaten egg mixed with a little mill

FOR THE COLCANNON POTATOES 

• 10 Desiree potatoes (about 1.6kg), unpeeled
• 500 gm rock salt
• 1 small bunch young cavolo nero, stalks removed, leaves coarsely chopped
• 3 small spring onions, thinly sliced
• 200 ml pouring cream, warmed
• 50 gm softened butter
• ½ cup (firmly packed) flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
• For drizzling: extra-virgin olive oil
• To serve: crusty bread

Method

FOR THE PIE

1. To make the filling, melt half the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion and garlic, cook for 5 minutes, then add the quartered mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.
2. Toss the steak in plain flour seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Melt the remaining butter in the saucepan and sauté the steak for about 5-7 minutes or until browned. Return the onions and mushrooms to the pan with the meat. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, then add the stock, Guinness and Worcestershire sauce and bring to boil.
3. Cover and then simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the meat is tender.
4. To make the pies, fill chosen pie dishes with the filling. Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface to fit the pie dishes. Brush the edge of the pie dishes with water and cut a strip of pastry to fit around this edge.
5. Cover the pie dishes with a pastry lid, pressing the edges together with your fingers, then trim the edges. Use any remaining pastry to decorate the top of the pie. Pierce the pastry with a sharp knife and brush with the egg wash.
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 190C for 20-30 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

FOR THE COLCANNON POTATOES 

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Place potatoes on a tray lined with rock salt and bake until tender (45 minutes-1 hour). Working quickly while potatoes are hot, and holding them in a tea towel, scoop flesh from skin and mash into a saucepan. Add cavolo nero, spring onion, cream and butter and stir over low heat to warm through. Add parsley, season to taste, dress with olive oil and serve hot with crusty bread.