Beef Pot Pie...the way to any man's heart!

THIS is the most delicious Beef Pot Pie ever! I swear! Go make it! Right Now!

My husband had a craving the other night for something with a crust on it….didn’t care what it was…as long as it had crust. Oh, and it had to have meat in it. So I decided I would venture into a territory I had yet to explore. Meat Pie. Now these kinda scare me a little…they sound like a lot of work…and after a 11 hour day out of the house…I don’t feel like making a meal that would keep me in the kitchen for 3 hours. But alas, I wanted to dote on my hubs, and I began a frantic google search for the perfect Beef Pot Pie. I am not one to copy a recipe, I like to take inspiration from a number of recipes , mash them together and put my own spin on them.  I don’t have any photos of the finished product, the man of the house pretty much dove in as soon as it was out of the oven, but I have a lot of extra filling leftover and will make another on the weekend to do a photo shoot with. This meat pie needs its moment!

BEEF POT PIE

For the Beef Stew:

3Lbs Beef Rump Roast, Cut into 1” Cubes and pat dry

6 Strips Thick Cut Low Sodium Bacon, Cut into 1” Pieces

1 Spanish Onion, Minced

2 Medium Carrots, Peeled and Minced

1 Celery Stalk, Minced

1 Tbsp Minced Garlic

2 Cups Red Wine (I had a Cabernet Sauvignon that was already open so I used that, but a Chianti or Burgundy would be better)

4-5 Cups Low Sodium Beef Broth

6 tbsp Butter

6 tbsp Flour

3 Tbsp Tomato Paste

1 tbsp Fresh Thyme, 1 Tsp Parsley and 1-2 Bay Leafs

½ Tsp Cayenne pepper

Salt and Pepper to Taste

In a heavy bottomed pot, cook bacon until crisp. Remove Bacon, turn temperature to medium high and add Beef cubes directly into the bacon fat. Sear Beef until slightly browned (about 3-4 Minutes) and remove beef.  Add Minced Onion, Carrot and Celery into the same pot. Season with a little salt and pepper and continue to stir until onion is translucent. Remove Vegetables and set aside with Beef and Bacon. In the same pot at medium high heat, add the butter and wait until it is all melted. Sprinkle in the flour and stir occasionally until the flour, butter mixture turns a nice nutty dark brown..do not let it burn! Add back the Beef, Bacon and Vegetables and mix to make sure all is covered in the flour & butter mixture, about 1 minute. Add the Red Wine, Beef Stock, Garlic, Tomato Paste, Cayanne and herbs.  Stir well and lower heat to Low. Simmer for 3-4 Hours stirring occasionally. I didn’t have 3-4 hours the other night so I only simmered it for 1 hour. It still tasted pretty delicious! Just make sure you taste the gravy about half way into the cooking for seasoning.

For the Vegetables:

2 Large Carrots cut into ½ inch pieces

2 Large Yukon Gold Potato’s cut into ½ inch pieces

½ Cup Frozen Peas

While the stew is cooking, blanch the carrots and potatoes in Boiling Salted water for about 8 Minutes or until slightly softened. Immediately immerse the vegetables into cold water to stop the cooking. I dumped the frozen peas into this water as well to start the defrosting. Drain the water and Set Aside.

ASSEMBLY!

If you got this far you are almost done!

Preheat the oven to 400F

For the Crust I bought pre-made refrigerated Pie Crust. The box came with 2 crusts, one for the bottom and one for the top, I know…totally cheated but I work a full time job! No Martha moments here!

In a 4”deep round corningware dish, press down the bottom crust. Butter the bottom of some tin foil and place on top of crust, weighing it down with about 1 inch of dried rice or beans. When you pre-cook the crust this will keep it from puffing up too much. Bake bottom crust in oven for 8-10 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Remove from oven, discard tin foil and rice/beans.

Back to the Stew, add your Blanched Vegetables to the stew and stir. If your gravy is a little too soupy remove some and freeze for another day. You want it to be chunky. Ladle stew into pie crust until you reach the top edge of the crust. Top the Corningware with your second piece of raw un-cooked pie crust. With a fork poke some holes in the top crust to let steam release. Return pie to oven for 15-20 Minutes or until top crust is a nice Golden Brown.

Let stand for 10 Minutes before Serving.

This recipe made enough stew for 2 pies. I froze the filling for the second pie for another day.

Hope you love this as much as Hubs did!