With St. Patrick’s Day coming up, we wanted share a little traditional Irish cuisine and provide an alternative to corned beef and cabbage. We adapted one of our favorite stews, a beef and stout stew, to make hand pies, which were perfect finger foods for a fun dinner with the kids or taking along for a nice lunch. Using the famous Irish stout Guinness, the beer imparts a rich malty flavor to the filling making this a delicious savory pie.
Irish Hand Pies
- 1 lb ground hamburger
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 1/4 cup chopped celery
- 1/4 cup diced carrot
- Use whatever vegetables you have one hand if you prefer in addition to the ones above
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire
- 1 Tbsp dried thyme
- 1 Tbsp dried garlic or 1 bulb fresh garlic, minced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 (12 oz) bottle Guinness
Brown hamburger, drain off fat. Add onion, celery and carrot, along with spices. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly until veggies have started to soften. Pour in bottle of Guinness and cook over medium until most of the liquid is gone. Take off heat and let cool slightly before placing in pastry.
This recipe will make more than you need. We made about 8 hand pies and had a lot left over.
Pastry Dough (Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)
(or you can use pre-made rolled pie crust from the grocery store!)
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup shortening
- 4-5 Tbsp cold water
1. In a medium bowl stir together flour and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until pieces are pea-sized.
2. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp water over part of the mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push moistened dough to the side of the bowl. Repeat, using 1 Tbsp at a time, until all the dough is moistened. Form dough into a ball.
3. Onto a lightly floured surface, use your hands to slightly flatten dough. Roll from center to edge. However big you want this is fine, it just needs to make 16 circles total.
4. We used a 5 inch round glass and cut around to form the circles. Make 16 for tops and bottoms of the hand pies.
To Make Hand Pies:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place about 1/3 a cup of the beef mixture on a pastry circle. Dab some milk on the bottom edges with a pastry brush. Top with another pastry circle. Press the 2 together and seal with a fork. Make it as pretty as you want! Continue with all of them until you are finished. Place on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. For browning, you can brush tops with a mixture of 1 egg yolk and a tablespoon of water. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown.