A Successful Celebration....

Our St. Pat's Party was a wonderful success.  Good food. Good drink.   Good friends.  Good times.

I got up early this morning and put my Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner into the roaster to slow cook for the rest of the day.  I also started my Beef and Red Ale Pie in the slow cooker.  I adapted this from a recipe that I found last week at our Bloggers CLUES party.  It was submitted by Anna's Dishes and I tagged it right away as a dish to make for tonight's celebration.  You will find my adaptation below.

After I got those dishes started I had to take Mom Klik to an appointment so I left them cooking and off I went.  When I got home, I went down and prepared the dinner table.

We had 11 guests so I had to open the table a little bit and the tablecloth wasn't quity long enough but that was fine.  The table still looked comfortable and inviting.

Each setting was marked with the guests name on a teabag holder that was presented with a lovely bag of tea that I got from a local store yesterday.  You can read all about that here.

Then I took a nap so that I would be up and raring to go when my company arrived.  Forty five minutes later I was up and at em again.  I put the crostini in the oven to crisp and made the cheese spread so it would have time to chill.

Cheddar Ale Cheese Spread

7 oz. Irish Cheddar Cheese, shredded

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 T. Smokey Chipotle Mustard (or other spicy mustard, or horseradish)

salt and pepper to taste

2 T. heavy cream

1/4 c. Red Ale

Parsley for garnish

Place cheeses, mustard, and cream in bowl of food processor and puree until smooth. Gradually add ale through pour hole until well incorporated.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Turn into a serving bowl and garnish with chopped parsley.  Print Recipe

I then moved the stew from the crockpot to my casserole to prepare it for the puff pastry crust.  The stew should be at room temperature before adding the puff pastry and placing it in the oven to finish.

Beef and Red Ale Pie

slightly adapted from Anna Dishes

4 slices thick cut bacon, diced

2 lbs beef stewing meat

handful of flour seasoned with salt and pepper

1 lg. sweet onion, cut into large dice

1 small bag baby carrots

5 med. yukon gold potatoes, cut into eighths

1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 bottle Red Ale

1 t. dried thyme

1 bay leaf

2 T. Worcestershire sauce

1 sheet frozen puff pastry thawed, with creases rolled out

Cook bacon in large skillet over med high heat until crisp.  Remove from skillet and set aside.

Dredge beef stewing meat in seasoned flour and brown in bacon grease, in batches, over med high heat, adding additional cooking oil if needed. 

While beef browns, place onion, carrots and potatoes in the bottom of a slow cooker.  Add meat as it browns.  When all meat is added.  Deglaze the skillet used for browning the meat with the Ale, scraping up any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.  Add the canned tomatoes along with the juices to the skillet.  Add the Worcestershire sauce, stir to combine and pour mixture over the meat and vegetables in the slow cooker.  Add the crisped bacon, thyme and bay leaf.  Cook for 6-8 hrs.

Transfer the mixture to a casserole and allow to come to room temperature.  Cover the stew with the puff pastry sheet and place in a preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, until heated through and the pastry is puffed and golden.  Print Recipe

That is supposed to be a shamrock in the middle of the cheesecake LOL.

While the stew cooled to be made into pie.  I decorated my cheesecake.  I will be sharing that recipe with you on the 25th of this month....stay tuned for that great event.  Then I threw together the Spinach/Strawberry Salad and put the Irish Root Soup on to start heating.  When the guests began arriving I was relaxing with the rest of the Red Ale that was left from the cheese spread and ready to enjoy the party. 

I hope all of you had a wonderful, relaxing St. Pat's Day as well.