I don’t believe in wasting beer. Do you have leftover beer in a growler, perhaps say from the Superbowl party, or an Olympics viewing party , or just a lonely bottle from a six-pack in the fridge? For me, it doesn’t get poured down the sink. I find a way to save it by still using it. I believe in cooking with beer.

I’ve previously covered cooking with beer via chocolate porter cake, and beer cheese (2 kinds)– and even made a saison ricotta on cucumber before. There are also plenty of beer fondue recipes out there – in general fondues are an easy way to use leftover beer or wine for that matter.

Another easy way to use beer is by doing beer braised onions- you can then use these in a multitude of ways, be it on a burger or other kind of sandwich, in mac and cheese, onion soup, wherever you would usually be using slow cooked onions.

Beer Braised Onions for Anything

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced or diced or however you’d like.
• 1 cup of beer
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

1. On medium heat, melt the butter in a pan. Add the cut onions and cook until tender and translucent, about 10 minutes.
2. Add 3/4 of the beer amount,  and all of the sugar and salt. Cook approx 15-20 minutes on high heat until the beer is absorbed and the onions are starting to brown. Or, if you were using a stout like me, look for the absorption and not the browning 😛
3. Add the remaining beer and simmer gently until the onions are the consistency you wish- this may mean less liquid for a burger/sandwich, but doesn’t matter for say a mac and cheese dish. Ground the pepper to taste.

So simple right?

I decided to go all in with the beer braised onions by then using them in a Vegetarian Beer Shepherd’s Pie, since I was using a stout!

Vegetarian Beer Stout Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds skinned potatoes turned into creamy mashed potatoes. I don’t know what your recipe/preferences is for mashed potatoes, and I have to say depending on the type of potato (my favorite is Yukon Gold) I vary the butter and dairy I might use to make it, all without measuring since it’s to taste. I did not use all the mashed potatoes to top it. Suffice it to say you should have 2 pounds worth because it’s more than enough- and maybe you’ll snack on some while you are cooking your meat portion, and so maybe there is a quarter pound or so of mashed potato loss…
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 large onion – peeled and chopped
• 1 cup of diced carrot
• 1 pound ground meat- be it fake meat, ground beef, or the traditional ground lamb. I used 1 and part of a 2nd package of Morningstar Veggie Crumbles
• 1 1/2 cup of a Stout beer
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1 cup peas
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, heat the oil, then add the onion, carrot, and meat. Cook until browned, 8 to 10 minutes. If you are using the beer braised onion, you don’t have to cook them with the carrot and meat since it is already cooked! When browned, drain the fat and return to the pan.
   
2. On the same medium-high heat, now to the pan with the onion, carrot, and meat (add the onion in now if you are using the beer braised onion), add the beer stout, ketchup, and the ground cumin and parsley. Simmer until the juices thicken, about 10 minutes, then add the peas. Pour the mixture into a baking dish. I used a 13×9 3 quart glass casserole dish so it was not a tall “pie” at all, but if you have a 1.5 quart round dish that would be more traditional so you can cut “pie slices”. Whatever, I’ve also seen it done in square dishes. Spreading it out further like I did yields more of the browned part of the mashed potatoes I personally like.
   
3. Now, spread your mashed potatoes over the meat mixture. Bake until golden, 30 to 35 minutes.
   

Pairing this with more beer, or a nice red wine, was a homey, hearty gut-filling dinner. Not a bad use for a beer, right?

Have you cooked with beer before? What did you make?