Every St. Patrick’s Day I make this stew for dinner. Served with fresh bread it is all you need. This year I made my favourite pie – banana cream. Soon we will say goodbye to cold nights and comfort food  so give this a try while you still have time!

Irish Beef Stew
(This will make an overflowing 9×11 cake pan serving. Adjust as necessary – you can’t mess it up.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beef sirloin cubes – we used a package that was 1.2 kg
4-5 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
3-4 parsnips – same
2-3 onions – same
1-1/2 bags of of mini potatoes
(use all or some of these or whatever other vegetable you have around)
Bisto Gravy – follow instructions and make 4 cups worth

Put all chopped vegetables in cake pan. Brown beef in a pan with some oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add beef to vegetables – including the liquid. Pour gravy over. Cook for about 3 hours. It’s really so simple. I don’t even bother to stir everything together. Serve! 

Banana Cream Pie (as shared with me by my good friend Martha Stewart)

Pie Shell (or just use a store bought one!)
2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
1/4 cup cold water

If you have a food processor, blend the flour, salt and butter so it resembles coarse crumbs with some larger pieces remaining. (To mix by hand, combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, then cut in butter with a pastry blender or just your hands.)

With the machine running, slowly add the ice water just until the dough holds together without being wet or sticky. Add more water if necessary. Turn out the dough onto a clean work surface. Divide in half, shape each half into a flattened disc, wrap each half in plastic wrap and put in fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight. You only need one so you can freeze the other.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about a 12 inch round and a bit less than 1/4 inch thick. Put into pie plate. Prick all over with a fork. Line pie shell with parchment and put something on it to weigh it down. I just used a bowl. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove bowl and take parchment off and bake for another 20 minutes. Let cool. 

(My dough was way too dry last time so it was falling apart. I just stuck it in pieces on the pie plate – it still tasted great!)

Now the rest of it…
4 egg yolks
3 cups milk
2/3 cup white sugar
5 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt

Whip Cream…
1 cup whipping cream (preferably real)
1/4 cup icing sugar (or white sugar if you don’t have it)

Prepare an ice bath; set aside. In a bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks; set aside. In a saucepan, whisk together milk, white sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Bring to a simmer (really hot but not boiling), and cook, whisking constantly, 3 to 4 minutes. 

Whisk a quarter of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks; whisk in the remaining milk mixture. Strain into a clean saucepan, and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until custard is thick and bubbles appear in the center, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl, and cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Set in the ice bath for 30 minutes or so until completely chilled. (I moved mine to the fridge)

Almost there…slice up some bananas (2ish) to line the bottom of the pie shell. Cover the bananas with the custard. Make the whip cream and spread over custard. Refrigerate (we just ate it) for an hour before serving. You can also add sliced bananas as a final layer but only do it when you serve so the bananas don’t turn brown. 

Enjoy!