In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I threw a little party last night and decided to cook an Irish-themed meal. Which turned out to be two dishes that both contained Guinness. For the nondrinkers in the family, Guinness is an Irish stout that's very creamy, rich, and dark in color. It's pretty mild, as beers go, but has a slightly smoky and sweet flavor.
The main dish was a Guinness pie that cooked nearly all afternoon in the oven and made the apartment smell delicious. Seriously, I was chewing on the walls and the sofa after a few hours. Though they could have used a little salt.
This is the pie filling, which was mostly mushrooms, stew beef, onions, and Guinness. The skillet was full to the brim when I started, and it cooked down for about 3 hours until it turned into the smooth, savory, rich stew you see above.
And then I placed a pastry top on there and baked it for a little longer.
Which resulted in this. The pastry was flaky but substantial, and the stew filling beneath was savory and delicious. The perfect dish to start breaking in a new cast iron skillet.
And then for dessert, I tried my hand at a Guinness cake. Lisa had made one and I heard about it (and also how Dad wolfed down the four or fives pieces that Lisa brought over for both he and Mom to share), and so I have her to thank for the inspiration here.
The cake was really easy to make, and I could almost eat it without the frosting. It's dense, moist, not terribly sweet, and has a really heavy texture. But then you also get some cream cheese frosting for good measure.
I used up all my creative energy on those two things, but by the time dinner rolled around I wished I'd also made some colcannon (inspiration from Steve and Rachel on that one). It's probably not too early to start planning for St. Patrick's Day 2016, right?
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