Guinness Shepherd’s Pie

 

One day is just not enough time to try out all the Irish goodies I found while perusing the webs.

Guinness chocolate cake, Guinness beef stew, Guinness ice cream!

Are you seeing the pattern here?

So here’s another Irish meal. Warm. Hearty. Filling. Cheesy. Oh. And boozey.

Yea. I added Guinness.

I couldn’t resist!

This was actually easier than I thought it would be to put together. I usually shy away from multi-step, multi-method cooking, but for a holiday, I always throw caution to the wind. And, this somehow manages to still only be a 2 pot meal!

This involves making mashed potatoes, sauteeing meat and vegetables, and then assembling and baking. You can easily make the mashed potatoes ahead of time. Or use leftovers if you have them handy.

For this recipe you will need:

  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 1 pound of ground beef
  • 1 cup each of frozen peas, carrots and corn.
  • 4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 1/2 cup Guinness
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • olive oil
  • butter
  • salt
  • pepper
  • cheddar cheese (if you’re feeling indulgent)

Start by setting the potatoes in a pot of water and bringing to a boil. I read somewhere to always start boiling potatoes in cold water, rather than adding potatoes to already boiling water. I don’t know why. But it has stuck with me and I always do that.

While the potatoes boil, drizzle some olive oil into a pot and add the onion and a touch of butter, maybe a tablespoon. I cooked the filling in an oven-proof cast aluminum casserole so I could just transfer from burner to oven. If you don’t have something that would work, sautee in a frying pan then transfer to a lightly buttered casserole.

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When the onions turn translucent, add the ground beef.

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Let the beef brown with the onions. When it is about halfway cooked, pour in some Guinness. I used about a 1/2 a cup. You can use as much or as little as you like. Or you can use beef broth instead.

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Add about two tablespoons of flour to the pot to help the juices firm up a bit.

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Give the pot a good stir and season with salt and lots of black pepper. The add in your frozen vegetables.

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Meanwhile, your potatoes should be fork tender by now. Drain the water and place the potatoes back in the pot.

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Add some butter and start mashing! You can add a touch of milk if you like. I leave a bit of water in the pot to help the potatoes along. I was trying not to add too much richness. Since I’m going to dump some cheddar cheese into the pot in a second.

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Yup, there we are. Shredded cheddar into the potatoes. And lots more coming up on top.

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When your meat is cooked and your veggies are nice and defrosted, layer the potatoes over the filling.

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And top with cheese.

Yup. There it is. There’s why I didn’t add milk to the potatoes.

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Bake in a 400 degree oven for about thirty minutes, until everything is all golden and bubbly.

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Scoop out heaving platefuls.

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And get ready for a nap!

 

Taco Taco Taco

Memorial Day Weekend is the unofficial start of summer.

It’s also the official start of grilling season.

Dads start rolling out the grills from the garage. People gather for backyard barbecues. Food Network has Grilling Week, a whole week dedicated to specials and shows and recipes centered around the grill.

There’s nothing better than a juicy burger, hot off the grill and tasting of open flames.

Except, if you have an itty bitty city kitchen, there’s nary a grill in sight.

Yes, I know, there are grill pans for indoor use. But I don’t know if it’s just us or if any of you had the same problem, we totally smoked our kitchen out using one. We have to go college-smoking-in-the-dorm style and bag our smoke detector to grill chicken or a burger.

Then the whole apartment smells like smoke.

Seriously. I showered the next day and when I dried off with my towel, I was basically rubbing smoke all over my newly cleaned self.

So for us, the grill pan is out. And anyway, the grill pan doesn’t mimic the char that you get on your burger when you cook over an open flame. And if I can’t have it the right way, then I’d rather not have.

So instead of trying to concoct ways to participate in the ultimate day for grilling, we went a different route.

Beef wasn’t optional.

But the bun was.

Who says you can’t celebrate Memorial Day with taco night?

I will admit that taco night is one of the more challenging nights in the life of an itty bitty city kitchen, but if you’re prepared and organized, it’s totally doable.

I’ll share with you our ingredients, but feel free to add and subtract toppings to suit your tastes.

  • romaine lettuce
  • tomatoes
  • black olives
  • shredded cabbage
  • taco cheese
  • salsa
  • Greek yogurt with a squeeze of lime (in place of sour cream)
  • flour tortillas

So here’s what I mean by being organized. We’re going to set up a make your own taco bar, which means each topping will be chopped up, put in its own bowl and lined up on the counter. It could easily overwhelm a little kitchen. But we’re going to be methodical.

First, pull out enough bowls for each topping and stack them up on the counter.

Get the cutting board and a knife.

Okay, here’s the key. Start with your least messy ingredient and then work your way to the messiest.

Think about it. You cut the tomato first and then move onto the romaine and you either have to rinse the cutting board and knife first or you wind up with tomato juice all over your romaine.

So, start with your romaine. Chop, place in bowl and then move the bowl out of the way, either off to the side or into the fridge to keep cold. I did the olives next, followed by the tomato. Then the cutting board went into the sink.

Spoon out a couple tablespoons of Greek yogurt into a bowl and spritz lime juice  over.

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When everything is assembled, it’s on to the meat.

For the meat, I used ground beef, chorizo and half a yellow onion. But you can use just ground beef, chicken breast, steak, whatever you like. Taco night is all about taste and tailoring it to your tastes and cravings.

Drizzle olive oil in a pan and add in the chopped yellow onion and some chorizo, diced. I’m using the chorizo in place of taco seasoning here, mostly because it’s on hand and because the flavor is so much more complex than what you get from a seasoning packet.

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Cook the onions and chorizo over medium until the onions are translucent and the chorizo starts to brown.

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Add in the ground beef and brown.

Pour the meat into a bowl and add this to the taco assembly line.

Grab a plate, grab a tortilla and build your taco.

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It’s not the traditional Memorial Day celebration, but it works for us.

We’ll start a new tradition.

Cheers!

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