Home Made Beef Pot Pie

                              

When the wife mentioned she had a hankering for pot pie, I wondered why we did not make it more often. After seeing the wife's version of home made pot pie, I realized why; although delicious, it takes a good bit of time and effort to make. It is, however, worth the effort.

If you have young kids, get them to help you do some of the prep. It's one of those childhood memories they will always carry with them, as opposed to shoving a store bought frozen pot pie in the microwave.

Below is the wife's recipe with some additional comments by yours truly. As with any recipe, you can modify it to your specific taste.

Slow Roasted Beef Pot Pie 

 Stew Beef - however much you think you need to feed your family - I used 2.5 pounds of stew beef.

Olive Oil - 2 to 3 tablespoons.

Onion - I used 3 medium – if you like onion use more.

Garlic - I used 2 cloves – if you like garlic use more.

 

 

Mushrooms - 12-16 ounces.

 

 

Peas, frozen, one bag.

 

 

Corn, 2 ears.

 

 

Merlot, for the acid. (Red Wine)  - about 2 to 3 cups (again to your taste)

Beef Broth (I used the one in the box) 1-2 boxes depending on how many you feed.
  

Put olive oil in large skillet, heat until ripples start in oil, add beef to brown, (this may get a little watery, if it does remove the water and add more oil).

 

 

 

Slice onions thin.

 

 

 

Mince garlic.

 

 

              

 

Remove browned meat from skillet and add onions and garlic, (may need to add a little more oil here) cook until caramelized (limp and golden brown) add meat back to pan, poor in wine to deglaze the pan, add a little beef broth as well.

  

 

In a large crock pot add ingredients from skillet and rest of beef broth – here I added seasonings, some McCormick’s grill seasoning, some basil and some oregano, about 1 teaspoon each, but season to your taste. (We tossed in the sliced up broccoli stalk and it cooked down nicely. A hand blender was used to mix the gravy, when ready for that step)

 

 

                

 I let this cook on high for about 2 hours, then cooked on low about 3 hours, remove the meat, and by this time it is nice and easy to shred. (The stew meat was so tender by this point that you could push on it with the back of a teaspoon and it would crumble..mmmm) 

Thicken the gravy with either a flour rue or corn starch and blend. Return the meat to the crock pot.  The  broccoli, potatoes, peas, corn (The corn was roasted over a gas burner for extra flavor) and mushrooms were prepped/chopped– the broccoli and potatoes, and corn were a little precooked to my taste preference.

 (The taters were put in a skillet and browned, then the broccoli was added to the skillet, along with more oil and merlot and corn as well as more beef broth which was simmered for 15 minutes or so – you can add what ever vegetables that you like :o) The peas were added to the crock pot along with the mushrooms. The skillet contents were also put in the crock pot. This was stirred and allowed to sit for another 15 minutes or so.              

                 

I then put this mix mash into little ramekin bowls and toped with pie crust, you can either make the crust yourself or buy it premade at the store – top with egg wash and cut holes in the crust for air vents I cooked it at 400 degrees for 25-35 minutes depending on how crunchy you like your crust. 

Pie Crust

 1 1/3 cups flour

¼ cup butter

¼ cup Crisco

Blend with pasty cutter or use two butter knives,then slowly add 3 tablespoons cold water – use fork to mix.

 This makes enough tops for 5 pot pies in soup bowl size ramekins  Enjoy p.s.  mine made a lot for us to have left over’s, I am not putting the crust on or cooking until we go to eat, saving the mix mash by itself and doing the crust later. 

It made 5 pot pies with probably enough for 5 more.

 

 

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This can be inexpensive if you buy the meat on sale and get some of the veggies on manager's special or you grow some of your own.   Enjoy this classic, hearty meal.

Best Onion Soup Ever

 The wife was kind enough to make this for her undeserving husband.
                      
For the stock: (You will need 6 pounds of onions total, the sweeter, the better, but you will only use 3 medium onions for the stock.)

Medium Stock Pot:

2-3 pounds of beef bones w/some meat remaining on them.
One bag of carrots
One stalk (Bag) of celery
Three medium onions
One bulb of fennel
One bulb of garlic

Peel and quarter onions, quarter the fennel bulb-leave most of the greens on, rough cut the carrots and celery and remove and halve the garlic cloves. Put all ingredients into the pot, which you have filled 3/4 full with water,  and simmer for around three hours. Strain. For extra flavor, discard the beef bones, keep whatever meat is left,  and puree the vegetables and meat with a  strong blender and return them to the stock.( You could probably toss in a couple of beef bullion cubes if the urge hits you)

                            

Now for the caramelized onions:
6 pounds of onions, less the 3 medium onions used for the stock.
6 tablespoons of butter
2 teaspoons of coarse salt.
1 tablespoon of sugar

                            

In a heavy soup pot, melt butter over med. high heat.
Add onions and salt. Stir often until onions are softened, about 30 min., reduce heat to medium and add sugar. Lower heat if necessary to prevent bottom from scorching. Cook onions for another 40 minutes or so until they are a jam-like (I.E. caramelized) consistency and golden brown in color.

Combine onions with stock, simmer until hot. Owing to the wife's German background, she puts a few shots of worcestershire sauce in her bowl as well as some sour cream.

If you really want to get country with this recipe, thicken the soup with flour.

Ice Cream Tacos

Well, of course, there's the Choco Taco, but my son came up with this "recipe" and it is such a fun idea I thought I'd share it. This would be great, though messy, for kids parties.

It's an ice cream taco that we make with blina as the (soft) shell. You can also use thinned pancake batter. The chocolate sauce is home made and the recipe for that goes back probably 100 years--I think it is delicious and you can taste the love.
                      

First, you make the blina.   The wife's recipe is on the fly and does not include baking soda or yeast which basically makes it a crepe. Here is a basic crepe recipe:     

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3 eggs
• 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

Process the flour, butter, sugar, eggs and salt in a blender until the mixture is smooth. Add the milk 1/3 cup at a time, until the batter is a liquid consistency. Set batter aside for 20 minutes.
Melt a little butter in a crepe pan or large skillet over low-medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons of batter to the pan and swirl until the bottom of the pan is covered with batter. Cook the crepe for 1 minute, or until the crepe is slightly moist on top and golden underneath. Loosen the edges of the crepe, slide the spatula under it, and then gently flip it upside down into the pan. Cook for 1 minute and transfer the cooked crepe to a plate to keep warm.  Makes 8 servings

                        

For the fixins, we used home made chocolate sauce, mini M&M's, caramel, chopped up Pop Tarts and whipped cream.

                          

Fixins:

                        

And the final product:

                          

Put some vanilla ice cream on the "shell" and add the toppings. Pick up and enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chocolate sauce recipe:
                                             1 cup sugar
                                             2 tblsp flour
                                             2 tblsp cocoa
                                             1 cup water
                                             2 tblsp margarine
Bring water and margarine to a boil then slowly add dry ingredients. Cook for about 2 minutes on low, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and add 2 tsp of vanilla. Consistency will be thick.
Alternate Recipe:
                                               1 cup sugar
                                               2 1/2 tlbsp flour
                                               2 cups of milk (less for thicker sauce)
                                               1 stick of butter (not margarine)
                                                About 3 tblsp cocoa
                                               2/3 tblsp vanilla
Melt the butter, then add remaining ingredients and stir frequently over medium heat.