Guinness Irish Stew with Herb Dumplings

I was watching the food channel on paid TV on a cold winter night and on was Rick Stein exploring the irish food and he made a stew recipe which just send a warm feeling all over me. I quickly scrambled to get a writing pad and pen to take down the recipe. And thanks to smart TV I rewind it back to the start of the recipe so I did not miss out on any vital ingredient or information to make the stew.

This is not the first time I make a recipe using Guinness stout I previously make a Guinness ginger spice cake and I know the end result will be a dish filled with gusto burst of flavours.

Ingredients (Stew):


Canola or olive oil, for cooking

3 lb lamb or beef stewing meat, cut in bite-sized pieces

1 onion, peeled and chopped

2-3 cups beef stock

1 can Guinness or other stout beer (or more stock)

4 thin-skinned potatoes, diced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1/2-1 cup frozen peas

1. In a large, heavy pot, brown the meat in a drizzle of oil in batches (without crowding) over medium-high heat. 
2. Transfer to a bowl and cook the onions in the same pot. 
3. Pour in the stock and bring to a simmer, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan.
4. Return the meat to the pot, add the Guinness, cover and put into a 300F oven for 2 1/2-3 hours.
5. Add the potatoes and carrots, cover and cook for another 20 minutes.

Ingredients (Parsley Dumplings):


1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 handful fresh parsley, chopped

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup heavy (whipping) cream

• Meanwhile, make the dumpling dough: in a medium bowl, stir together the flour, parsley, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the cream and stir just until the dough comes together.
• Drop the biscuit batter by the large spoonful on a baking tray.
• Bake in an oven at 180 degree celcius for 15 to 20 minutes or until brown.

This is such an easy one pot recipe but the end result just warms your whole being as you take each spoonful of soft delectable beef cooked in such rich deep flavours. The beef was so soft it did not take much effort to break them apart and the gravy was thick and rich with the flavour from the Guinness. Even though I've never been to Ireland but this dish sure brought me there.

Super Fudgy Brownies

I just bought a huge bag of Lindt dark chocolate chip which was on discount and was dying to make something cholatey and decadent with it. I've been craving for brownies, those fudgy wudgy kind that you get from Mrs Fields. After entering a few search words on the computer I got a whole list of recipes and there was one that particularly appealed to me from Got Chocolate and it did not require any effort at all which suited me perfectly well. 

INGREDIENTS:

6 oz. unsweetened baking Chocolate squares
1 cup salted butter, softened
4 large eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup (6 oz.) semisweet Chocolate Chips

DIRECTIONS:

Melt unsweetened baking chocolate and butter over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until almost melted. Remove from heat and stir until completely melted. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light yellow in color, approx. 5 minutes. Add sugar and mix thoroughly.

Add vanilla and melted chocolate to the egg and sugar mixture. Mix until smooth, then add the flour and mix thoroughly.

Pour batter into greased 9" x 13" baking pan. 8" X 8" pan will work too, but may need to bake longer. Smooth with a spatula. Sprinkles chocolate chips on top.

Bake on the center rack at 300* F for 45-55 minutes. A clean toothpick placed in the center of the brownies indicates they are done. Do not overbake.

Cool to room temperature, cover and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 1 hour. Cut into 2" squares and serve chilled.

The moment I took the brownie out of the oven me and my little girl was eager to get right into the business of tasting it. We cut it up straight away while it was still piping hot and had a bite of the delectable gooey chocolate. The brownie was so moist it just melts in your mouth with each chocolate goodness in every bite. I must say I'll never try another brownie recipe ever as this is going to be my all time favourite. 

Pineapple Custard Pie

I was forced to make this pie by my husband who grew up in the pacific islands so he loves anything pineapple or anything to do with coconut. He has been trying to attempt to get this pie perfected like his late mum use to make it only problem is that among his sister's she never left a proper recipe it was all in her head. So I was left with the daunting task of trying to create this pie from scratch just base on my hubby's memory of what it tasted and looked like. As always I looked to my buddy Mr Google for answers to life's intriguing problems and lo and behold I found someone thru a blog who was an islanser herself who has something like a pie recipe from the islands. Although in this instance because it was a recipe passed down from someone to someone else the recipe got filtered down and meausurements were not quite there. So I started on my journey to recreate this pie....

Ingredients(Pastry)
4 cups self-raising flour
150g butter
1 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1 cup milk

Preparation(Pastry)

• Cream butter and sugar till pale white in colour.
• Sift flour into the butter and sugar mixture.
• Beat the egg yolks with the milk, setting the egg whites aside to be use for the meringue later.
• Mix the milk and egg mixture into the batter of butter, flour and sugar.
• Grease a casserole dish or a roasting pan with margarine or butter so the pastry doesn’t stick to the dish/pan. Spead the pastry ensuring the dish is evenly spreaded out to cover the whole dish.
• Bake in oven for 180 degrees celcius for 20-30minuutes.

Filling
6 cups water

1 cup custard powder

1 can crushed pineapple

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

Preparation(Filling)

• While your pastry is baking, put 6 cups of water into a pan/pot bring to the boil.
• Once boiled, put 1 cup of sugar, stirring thoroughly so the sugar doesn’t settle at the bottom.
• Put your custard powder into a mixing jug/container, then slowly add your 1 cup of milk, mixing it so as not to create any lumps.
• Once the custard is mixed thoroughly, then pour into the water, stirring thoroughly as it tends to settle easily on the bottom of the pot/pan. Once it’s boiled, your custard should be fairly thick.
• Mix in some more custard powder if you think it’s not thick enough. Then bring it the boil once it’s boiled, it should be ready.

Your pastry should be ready when it’s lightly brown in the oven. Bring it out of the oven, then pour your custard into your pastry dish/pan, then let it settle while you prepare the merigue.

Meringue (Topping)

4 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cream of tartar

• Beat all the ingredients in a bowl with a electric mixer till the egg whites become stiff. 
• Spread on top of the custard mixture and bake in the oven till it browns.
• Serve warm or cold.

Hubby was rather impress with the end result and I must say I did pretty well with the limited knowledge of what the pie should taste or look like.