Update: Congratulations to Julie from Bananas for Bourbon, the winner of this giveaway. She likes her blue cheese in pasta sauce, on bread, and is hoping to incorporate it into Biscuit batter. Looks like she’ll get her chance!
My sister-in-law, Liz, hosted us for dinner on Christmas Eve eve and served Stilton-crusted beef stew that we all went crazy for.
It was an interesting coincidence because Maggy and I had just been remembering how Kerrygold Cashel Blue Cheese was the hit at the Big Summer Potluck lunch this past August. There were lots of wonderful dishes that day, but it was the big wheel of Cashel blue that everyone was talking about, heading back to the buffet table for more. At the end of the meal there wasn’t a crumble left.
Which is unusual, because as someone who frequently serves cheese, I nearly always find blue cheese left on the board. Why was the Kerrygold Cashal Blue so popular? To me it’s because this cheese is at once creamy and crumbly, mild yet distinct. It looks and tastes like butter mated with blue.
Maggy turned to me at that holiday dinner and said, “Wouldn’t the beef stew crust be perfect made with Kerrygold Cashel Blue?” The stew already had an Irish feel–much of the flavoring liquid was Guiness. I said, “You’re right!”
Maggy facebooked the folks at Kerry Gold and told them about our blue cheese crusted stout stew. In fact they liked the idea so much they suggested a giveaway. Kerrygold sent some Cashel Blue, and I developed my own recipe: Blue Cheese-Crusted Beef Stout Pie. I served it to Maggy who thought it was superb. I gave some to my friend who e-mailed to say, “It’s the best stew I ever tasted.”
So there you have it–a great recipe and a giveaway. Kerrygold will send you a thee-pound wheel of Cashel Blue, lovingly crafted by the Grubb family with milk from cows that graze on some of Ireland’s most lush and nutrient rich pastures. (FYI, there was no compensation for this post… except for a wheel of that amazing blue cheese!)
Just tell us your favorite thing to do with blue. Giveaway closes on Sunday, February 5th at 9 PM ET. We’ll announce the winner first thing Monday morning.
Blue Cheese-Crusted Beef Stout Pie
Serves 8
These days it appears that most grocery stores carry either 1-pound packages of frozen pearl onions or 9-ounce packages of creamed pearl onions. Either works. Since I can only get creamed pearl onions, my recipe calls for that. If using regular frozen pearl onions, use a 1-pound package and add an extra tablespoon of oil when sauteing garlic and herbs and increase flour to 1/4 cup.
1 recipe Blue Cheese Pastry (below)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound sliced baby bella mushrooms
3 1/2 pounds beef chuck roast, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
Salt and ground black pepper
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups stout, such as Guinness
2 packages (9 ounces each) frozen creamed pearl onions
1 pound each: boiling potatoes and peeled carrots, cut into bite-size chunks
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Make Blue Cheese Pastry and refrigerate. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Heat 2 tablespoons of of the oil in a 5- to 6- quart Dutch oven or heavy soup kettle over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms; sauté until most of the moisture has evaporated and mushrooms start to turn brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a bowl; set aside.
Meanwhile, drizzle beef with another tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper; toss to coat. Working in 2 batches to avoid overcrowding, add beef chunks to hot pot and sear, turning only once, until 2 sides form an impressive, dark brown crust, 5 to 6 minutes per batch. Transfer to a bowl; set aside.
Heat remaining tablespoon of oil in pot. Add garlic, thyme, and flour; cook until garlic is golden, almost immediately. Vigorously whisk in broth, stout, and tomato paste and then creamed (or regular, see note above) pearl onions. Bring to a simmer; continue to simmer until creamed pearl onions have just thawed. Return beef to the pot. Using two potholders to protect hands, place a sheet of heavy-duty foil over pot, pressing foil down so that it touches stew. Seal foil completely around edges. Place lid snugly on pot and cook until juices bubble. Set pot in the oven and cook until meat is tender, 1 1/2 hours.
While stew cooks, bring 1 inch of water to boil in a deep skillet or pot over high heat. Place potatoes and carrots in a steamer basket, season with salt, and set in pan. Cover and steam until just tender, 6 to 8 minutes.
Remove stew from oven and carefully remove foil. Stir in steamed vegetables and Worcestershire sauce. (Stew can be cooled and refrigerated up to 2 days); return to a simmer.
About 45 minutes before serving, leave oven rack at lower-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Roll Blue Cheese Pastry to 10- to 11-inch circle (check pan diameter). Place pastry over stew; set pot in oven and bake, uncovered, until stew is bubbly and pastry is golden brow, about 30 minutes. (For a richer colored pastry, turn on broiler and continue to cook 1 to 2 minutes longer) Spoon into soup plates and serve.
Blue Cheese Pastry
Enough for a single crust 9-inch pie
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 stick (8 tablespoons) frozen unsalted butter, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/3 cup ice water
3 ounces crumbled blue cheese, preferably Kerry Gold Cashel
Pulse flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor to blend. Add butter; process with 12 to 14 one-second pulses until mixture resembles coarse meal with pea-size butter pieces. Add blue cheese; process with 2 to 3 more one-second pulses until incorporated. Transfer mixture to a medium bowl; sprinkle ice water over mixture with a fork until mixture starts to come together. Switching to hands, form mixture into a ball pressing dough onto the side of the bowl and adding sprinkling in a little more water, if necessary to get dough to form a solid ball. Wrap dough in plastic and press into a 4-inch disk. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to 2 days.
i love using blue cheese on top of gratins. especially sweet potato!
I love homemade Bleu Cheese Dressing and I eat it on salads, veggies, etc. There is nothing better!
I’m new to blue cheese – but I LOVE it paired with beef. I stir it into mashed potatoes when I cook steak, or I sprinkle some on top of spinach salads, along with red onion, roast beef, and a light vinaigrette.
I am afraid I don’t have a killer recipe that I use blue cheese in. My very favorite way to enjoy blue cheese is with a good glass of wine and some fruit. I really love blue cheese and this way it gets to be the star of the show.
salads, on top of steak, straight, with a little fruit, or in general, yes please
Blue cheese-onion sauce.
On top of steak, with pears or apples, or on baked potatoes.
I like it smeared on a piece of baguette.
It’s a tie between it melted into mushrooms sauteed in butter and wine for a savory, tangy dish or crumbled in a salad with avocado and tomatoes.
Salad dressing- yum!
I love to make blue cheese chive butter for the top of steaks!
Anything — it’s my favorite! Eat it with pears, with crackers, with nothing; put it on homemade pizza; toss it in salads … Thanks for another way to try it 🙂
sprinkled on top of a spinach salad or with a nice sourdough and apple slices
I love blue cheese with bread & wine or to top salads.
I love a good blue cheese with some dried fruit, crackers and wine. Yummy!! I also love making my own blue cheese dressing, there nothing better.
I love blue cheese with steaks, smeared on french bread with a little mayo, and I really love it crumbled in salads!
I love it in salads: arugula or spinach, pears or apples, candied pecans or walnuts and a balsamic vinaigrette.
Wow this recipe looks beyond yummy.
During the summer when I make steaks I make a blue cheese butter. Once the steaks are off the grill and before I wrap them in foil to rest, I will slather this cheese butter over the top and then seal the foil. It melts down the meat and mixes with the meat juices. I will then slice the steak and drizzle the juices back over the meat. Of course there is a bowl of the blue cheese butter on the table for more indulgence. It is also good on bread.
I love to make wedge salad and crumble a TON of blue cheese on top. Ah! Or crumble it all over the top of my steak.
I love, love, love it in salads with spinach and other dark greens. Then I add something sweet like apples or pears, plus a some nuts. Oh no, now I’m starving!
This looks A-mazing! I love my blue cheese broiled on top of a 9-oz filet. It gets all bubbly and a little crusty, so so so so delicious!
Melted on grilled steaks and burgers and crumbled on a buffalo chicken salad.
I really like gnocchi with blue cheese sauce with or without spinach.
I love blue cheese smeared on a baguette or on top of salads & of course paired with beef! Okay now I have to go buy some of this Kerrygold Blue Cheese!
I love blue cheese “melted” on a burger.
I love it crumbled in a salad – my favorite is crisp lettuce, mandarine orange slices, sugared almonds, red onion & lots of blue cheese with a lime vinaigrette – yum!
Either in Cobb salad, especially good with a cherry vinaigrette, or on top of a hamburger!
Blue cheese bacon dip or perhaps a blue cheese stuffed burger
I love it paired with a glass of port.
I have not cooked much with blue cheese except to crumble it over some salad or add to baked cheesy pasta. I can’t wait to try this stew recipe though! It looks amazing.
My husband loves it on steak and I love blue cheese on salads! That pie is a must try! My husband loves Blue cheese, beef and guiness, what a great combo!
i have a recipe for a blue cheese dip that you serve with sliced pears. heaven.
i love blue in everything.
Oh my gosh…This looks amazing. I love to have what we call blue cheese bites- basically biscuits baked with blue cheese and butter over the top!
I love a nice blue cheese with a glass of red wine.
I love blue cheese any way I can get it! I particularly like it spread on crackers or bread all by itself!
My grandmother used to make the best blue cheese dressing. And we’d eat it on iceberg lettuce with thinly sliced tomatoes, carrot shreds and croutons. And no matter how many fancier, trendier ways I try it, nothing comes close to Grandma’s simple salad.
I love blue cheese crumbled in a salad or on top of a burger. Always good on crackers, too.
I would love to try this! Blue cheese on a salad is my favorite.
Blue cheese crackers! So easy and show-offy when guests come over.
I’m a big fan of blue cheese sprinkled over just-roasted pears, maybe with a small drizzle of honey if the pears aren’t quite sweet enough.
I am going to try this killer looking beef pie! I love blue cheese anytime, straigt up on a cracker, crumbled on a salad, on my steak, in my fondue…basicly any way I can get it! Yum! Thanks for the great ideas!
Besides spread it on some bread and eat it? I like to incorporate it into a pasta sauce. I’d love to mix it into a biscuit dough, though I’ve never done it yet. 🙂
Stuff it in figs, wrap with bacon and broil!
Blue cheese is new to me too, but I love it on a good salad!
I love putting blue cheese in my mac and cheese. it adds an awesome twist to it!
Blue cheese on toasted french bread….mmmmm.
blue cheese with honey on crackers… Yum, yum, yum.
Roasted Squash (I like acorn or butternut best) with Blue Cheese Crumbles and Maple Glazed Pecans (or walnuts). Mmmmmm. Simple, good quality ingredients, so yummy!
I slice fresh figs in half, sprinkle blue cheese on the cut sides, add a few dashes of Balsamic. Then I broil just until the cheese melts. So good!
I’m not a fan of blue cheese myself, but my husband loves it so I do cook with it occasionally. I think my favorite thing to make with it, that I can even stand, is blue cheese, fig, and proscuitto crostinis! The flavors just work!