Irish Corned Beef Stew is always a good meal. If made right its always got a lot of flavor and can be considered a whole meal. Here we’ve taken the basic concept and add another flavor, Guinness Beer. This one you’ll need to allow an extra 8 hours to cook the filling in a crock pot or slow cooker. The version pictured above was made with a regular pie crust, but we made on of these with an Irish Soda Bread Crust which was even better.
Serves 16 – 22 (2 Quiches)
Ingredients
- 1 lb. Corned Beef, sliced and roughly chopped
- 1/2 Cabbage, chopped
- 4 large Carrots, chopped
- 4 Celery Stalks, chopped
- 2 pints Guinness Beer
- 2 tsp Garlic, minched
- 2 Tbsp Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Salt
- 1 Tbsp Thyme
- 2 cups Beef Stock
- 2 Tbsp Dijon or Beer Mustard
- up to 1/2 cup Flour, for thickening
- 1 cup Dubliner Irish Cheddar (one 200 g package) shredded
- 2 Pie Crusts of your choice
- Base Quiche Mix, less 1 egg and 1/4 pint Half and Half
Preparation
You’ve got a lot of chopping to do, so get busy chopping the all the vegetables into small chunks no larger than 3/4 inch. Place all of these in the bottom of a crock pot or other slow cooker. Layer the chopped Corned Beef on top of that. In a mixing bowl, combine the Garlic, Salt, Pepper, Thyme, Mustard and half of the Beef Stock. Mix well so that all the powders are fully mixed. Add in the first pint of Guinness. Then pour this mixture into the crock pot over the meat and vegetables. This should be enough to cover fully cover the ingredients, if not add a little more Beef Stock to cover. Cover the cooker and set it on high heat for 8 hours. Check on it at about 4 – 6 hours to make sure that the solids are still covered with liquid. If not add enough equal parts Beef Stock and Guinness to cover. At 8 hours of cooking this should be ready, but if you want you can cook longer.
Pour the contents of cooker through a strainer, reserving the liquids into a large pot. Put the solids into a container and refrigerate until ready for final assembly. Put the large pot with the liquids over medium high heat to bring to a slow boil. Add in 2 tablespoons of flour at a time, thoroughly mixing to thicken up the liquid. Repeat until you’ve created medium thick gravy. Reduce heat to a slow boil and continue to cook for about 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Allow to cool and put in another container and refrigerate until final assembly.
Final Assembly and Cooking
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the solids from the previous step equally into each of the prepared pie crusts. Gently mix in a about 1/4 cup of the cheese into the solids. In a large mixing bowl, prepare the Base Quiche Mix (less 1 egg and 1/4 pint of Half and Half) and mix in 1 – 1/2 cups of the gravy mixture from above. Whisk for at least 3 minutes to fluff up the eggs. Pour mixture gently over ingredients in the pie crusts, filling to near the top of the pie pan. Spread the remaining cheese over the top of the quiche filling. If you don’t mind a little browned cheese, as in the photo above, simply cook in the oven for 30 -40 minutes, until the cheese is browning in the center. For a more even browning of this cheese, wrap the pie pans with 3 – 4 inches of aluminum foil around the edges, gently folding down the foil but not pressing into the quiche.