Pie Day Extravaganza: Beef n Guinness Pie vs. Pork and Leek Pies with Cheddar Mash

I’ve had this post done for MONTHS and though it is not even Pi day yet (3.14….) I can’t wait to post this any longer…so here are two of my not so recent adventures in pie making. Maybe it will inspire you to get going and make your very own pies for the up coming Pi day.

Ok, I admit it…I’m not a pastry chef! Could you tell? I came across a recipe for this pie and I wanted to try making pastry with my new kitchenaid mixer.  For me, this recipe was a two day ordeal.  I made the pastry, covered it in saran wrap and put it in the fridge to sit.  The I got on to make the filling using some stew meat, veggies and slow cooking them all day with some Guinness to make a delicious gravy. If you aren’t going to make your own beef stock, try using a tablespoon or so of  beef ‘Better Than Bouillion’. It really adds lots of beefy goodness. The next day I rolled out the pastry and placed it in these onion soup bowls. I added the filling and a pastry top and then baked in them in the oven. I’m glad I had made a double recipe of pastry as I had tons of filling left…I ended up making about ten extra pies that I froze and had in the oven for ’emergencies’.  With kids though, pretty much anything can constitute ‘an emergency’ especially when pies are involved!

One day I had a bunch of leeks just sitting there in my fridge, just sitting there next to a bit of ground pork.  What to do? A quick search on google found me a delicious recipe idea for Pork and Leek Pies with Cheddar Mash. As usual I use the recipe as a base and add my own little tweak, in this case…bacon!  I think these are much more appealing visually and using leftover mash with cheddar was really yummy as a pie topper.