This is a very hearty dish, appropriate for winter’s chill.
Ingredients
- olive oil or butter for cooking vegetables
- 1 red onion, chopped (large)
- 1 sweet white onion, chopped (large, such as Walla Walla or Vidalia)
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 8 thick slices of bacon
- 1.25 – 1.5 pounds of brisket, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2-4 cups of Guinness
- 1 T Worchestershire sauce
- shallots and garlic
- rosemary (fresh)
- 1 bunch green onion, chopped
- flour for dusting meat
- sea salt
- black pepper
- 8 oz cheddar cheese, grated
- 2 frozen deep dish pie shells (or make your own)
- puff pastry dough
- 1 egg, beaten
Preparation (.75 hours)
- Preheat oven to 350; put rack at bottom level
- Combine flour, salt, pepper in a shallow dish; coat beef, shaking off excess
- In one pan, cook onion until soft (use either butter or olive oil) and then cook carrots, celery until softened (use either butter or olive oil)
- In another pan, cook bacon until crisp. Pour off excess bacon grease, then brown the brisket in this pan, in batches, along with garlic and shallots (personal preference on quantity – I’ve used dried and fresh shallots, garlic paste and fresh garlic).
- In an oven proof pan, add meat and vegetables. Add enough Guinness to cover the meat mixture; add Worchestershire sauce. Sprinkle green onions, rosemary sprig on top. Cover and bring to a simmer.
Bake (1.5 hours + 1 hour + 0.5 hour)
- Transfer the pan to the oven
- Braise the meat for 1.5 hours; remove from the oven and stir.
- Return to the oven to cook for approximately another hour; the sauce should be thick and dark after 2.5 hours, the meat should be tender. (Note: if you make a double batch, you will have to cook the mixture longer to cook it down.)
- While the meat is cooking, butter an 8x12x2 inch Pyrex dish
- Remove the dough from the two pie shells; place on a sheet of plastic wrap and reshape to conform with the Pyrex dish (use a rolling pin and fingers – brush with flour or cover with another plastic wrap)
- Remove meat from oven; let cool slightly, then add half of the cheddar cheese; stir well.
- Pour meat into baking dish
- Cover with puff pastry dough
- Brush dough with egg
- Bake until golden, at the bottom of the oven, about 30 minutes
Adapted from Jamie Oliver