Mini Stout Pies and colcannon

Happy St. Patrick's Day, almost. Today I decided to make mini stout pies to bring to work for dinner and then colcannon as the side dish. Colcannon is just a traditional potato dish with greens and butter basically. It was super easy to make.

The mini pies are delicious, but you have to make sure you have a way to to cute out an 8 inch circle. I mean, most people probably have 8 inch circle cookie cutters but I do not. So, I had to use the lid of a glass which was probably like 4 inches maybe. That caused my pies to be tiny, like appetizer sized. I don't mind that, I actually really like finger foods and tiny pie-like-things. Unfortunately, the recipe calls for just one box of refrigerated pie dough. If you are going to make tiny appetizers, you'll need two boxes instead. I still have a bunch of meat and veggie filling left because I wasn't aware of this. I mean, the filling is good so I'm still probably going to eat it was potatoes or something, but if you are going to have a St. Paddy's Day party these would be adorable additions in the tiny size.

Also, next time I make them, and there probably will be a next time, I would brush part of egg mixture over the little pies to give them a golden color. They were lacking that. It doesn't diminish the taste, but it looks really yummy.

The colcannon is super easy to make, really really easy. It's like mashed potatoes but with more veggies, so it's a little healthier than just mashed potatoes. It's a nice new twist.

Here's the recipe, I originally got this from Pillsbury, but it comes from Inspired Taste:



Mini Stout Pies

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 oz lean (at least 80%) ground beef

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup diced onions

1/2 cup diced carrot

1/2 cup Green Giant® frozen sweet peas, thawed

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

3/4 cup stout beer

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

1 box Pillsbury® refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box

1 egg

1 tablespoon water

Directions

1 In 10-inch skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add beef; season with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook 3 to 5 minutes until browned, stirring frequently to break up beef. Add onions and carrot; cook 3 to 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in peas, thyme and garlic; cook 1 minute.

2 Reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in tomato paste. Add flour; cook and stir 1 minute. Add beer; cook and stir 1 minute or until beer thickens. Stir in Worcestershire sauce and sugar. Season to taste with additional salt. Remove from heat; cool 10 minutes.

3 Meanwhile, heat oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheet with foil.

4 Unroll pie crusts on work surface. Using 4-inch round cookie cutter, cut 8 crust rounds. Or if you are making the appetizer version, as many as you can with two boxes of pie crust (4 crusts in all.)

5 In small bowl, beat egg and water with fork until well blended. Brush small amount of egg mixture around edge of each crust round.

6 Spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons cooled beef mixture onto half of each crust round. Fold untopped crust over beef mixture (pies will be full). Press edges with fork to seal. With knife, cut 3 small slits in tops. Place on cookie sheet.

7 Bake 18 to 24 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

If you’re not a fan of beer, substitute with beef-flavored broth - But then you have Guinness leftover to drink, so the beer is totally worth it.

To reduce the fat in the pies, replace the beef with ground chicken or turkey.

Here's the colcannon, originally from Simply Recipes:

Colcannon Recipe

• Prep time: 10 minutes
• Cook time: 25 minutes

For a variation, sub out half of the potatoes with parsnips. Can add chives, leeks, or bacon too.

Ingredients

• 4 russet potatoes (2 to 2 1/2 pounds), peeled and cut into large chunks
• Salt
• 5-6 Tbsp unsalted butter (with more butter for serving)
• 3 lightly packed cups of chopped kale, cabbage, chard, or other leafy green
• 3 green onions (including the green onion greens), minced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 cup milk or cream

Method

1 Put the potatoes in a medium pot and cover with cold water by at least an inch. Add 2 tablespoons of salt, and bring to a boil. Boil until the potatoes are fork tender (15 to 20 minutes). Drain in a colander.

2 Return the pot to the stove and set over medium-high heat. Melt the butter in the pot and once it's hot, add the greens. Cook the greens for 3-4 minutes, or until they are wilted and have given off some of their water. Add the green onions and cook 1 minute more.

3 Pour in the milk or cream, mix well, and add the potatoes. Reduce the heat to medium. Use a fork or potato masher and mash the potatoes, mixing them up with the greens. Add salt to taste and serve hot, with a knob of butter in the center.