A YUMMY way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!!

Here's a fun, yummy way to celebrate St. Patty!  Bo and I rented a movie set in Ireland Saturday night, so we decided to make an Irish-themed meal to go with it.  I modified the Beef and Guinness Pie recipe originally published in Gourmet (October 2004) and found on epicurious.com.

Beef and Guinness Pot Pie

Ingredients:
2 pounds boneless beef chuck, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
3 carrots, sliced into 1-inch pieces
3 garlic cloves, chopped
4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup beef broth
1 cup Guinness
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons drained brined green peppercorns, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
Pie Crust (I use Pillsbury)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon water

Directions:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
Pat beef dry.  Put flour, salt and pepper in a gallon ziplock bag.  Add beef, shake to coat, then transfer to a plate.  Heat oil in a wide 5- to 6-quart ovenproof heavy pot over moderately high heat until just smoking, then brown meat in 3 batches, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes per batch, transferring to a bowl.
 Add onion, carrots, garlic and water to pot and cook, scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pot and stirring frequently, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes.  Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, 1 minute.  Stir in beef with any juices accumulated in bowl, broth, beer, Worcestershire sauce, peppercorns, and thyme and bring to a simmer, then cover and transfer to oven.  Braise until beef is very tender and sauce is thickened, about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours.  Cool stew completely, uncovered, about 30 minutes.  If stew is warm while assembling pies, it will melt uncooked pastry top.  (To speed up this process, I let the soup cool for 8-10 minutes and then filled my sink with ice water and placed pot in it.  It reduced the cooling time substantially.)
Put a cookie sheet on middle rack of oven and increase oven temperature to 425°F.
Divide cooled stew among bowls.  (You can use ramekins or any oven-safe dish.  I used a Le Creuset oval gratin dish and a bread pan).  Roll out pie crust dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into shape(s) of your chosen dish, adding an extra inch around for trim.  Stir together egg and water and brush a 1-inch border of egg wash around baking dishes.  Drape dough over dishes, pressing sides lightly to help adhere.  Roll edges of dough up to make a pretty border.  (At this point, I put one of them in the freezer for a quick meal down the road ;).  Brush pastry tops with some of remaining egg wash, sprinkle with Kosher salt and pepper and freeze 15 minutes to thoroughly chill dough. 
Bake pies in preheated cookie sheet until pastry is puffed and golden brown, about 20 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 400°F and bake 5 minutes more to fully cook dough.

Chocolate Guinness Goodness (Pudding)

from epicurious.com

Ingredients:
8 large egg yolks
1 cup sugar
One 14.9-ounce can Guinness Draught
3 cups heavy cream
7 ounces high-quality bittersweet (70 to 72% cacao) chocolate, finely chopped
Special equipment: Six 8-ounce old-fashioned glasses

Directions:
In large nonreactive mixing bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar.
Open can of Guinness and slowly pour into 4-cup measuring cup, pouring down side of cup to reduce foaming.  Pour half of Guinness (about 7/8 cup) into heavy-bottomed 3-quart saucepan.  Add 2 1/4 cups cream and whisk to combine.  Set over medium heat and heat, whisking occasionally, until bubbles just begin to form at edges.  Remove from heat, add chocolate, and whisk until smooth.
Slowly pour hot chocolate mixture into eggs, whisking constantly to prevent curdling.  Return mixture to saucepan and set over moderately low heat.  Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture thickens and coats back of spoon, about 15 minutes.  (Pudding will look separated.)  Pour into blender and blend on high for 1 minute.  Divide pudding among glasses, leaving at least 1 inch of space at top of each.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled and set.
Meanwhile, pour remaining Guinness into small saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat.  Reduce heat to moderately low and simmer, uncovered, until reduced to 1 tablespoon, about 20 minutes.  Pour syrup into small bowl and let cool.
Beat remaining cream until soft peaks form.  Add Guinness syrup and beat until combined.  Divide cream among 6 glasses of pudding and serve.