I am not going to lie, beef pot pie has been a thorn in my side for over two years. Matt challenged me to make one as an alternative to my chicken pot pie and I gladly accepted the challenge. I tried approaching this with the same approach as my chicken pot pie and it was an utter failure.
Back when first issued the challenge, I started by making my gravy with the butter and flour base, added in my milk, and added in beef boullion. That is when things got ugly. The gravy was this ugly beige color that was very unappealing. It tasted okay but it looked disgusting. Matt did not see it until it was on the plate and he was less than excited about it. He ate it because he is a good sport but I knew there were better beef pot pies to be had and I was determined to find them.
I suppose I could have bought some of those disgusting cream of anythings and glop them in to the dish but I wasn't ready to give up to that point yet. In rounds two through four I played around with those awful packets found on every grocery aisle in America where you can pick anything from spaghetti sauce to sawmill gravy. I choose to block out that period in beef pot pie development. The End.
And then it happened. It was a beautiful late summer day. If I recall correctly, it was partly cloudy with a slight chance of storms that evening. We were in our neighborhood Publix when I saw it. Gravy Master. I squealed and got all high pitched as I called Matt over to let him see what I discovered. He did not share my excitement. Little did he know what Gravy Master was going to do to improve my roasts, my beefy pepper noodle, and finally, my beef pot pie.
Please understand before proceeding any further that this dish is an indulgence. This is a once or twice a year kind of thing. So when I tell you to get out your jar of bacon grease, just trust me, it will be worth it in the end. Any southern cook worth their salt has a jar just like the one on the left in the fridge. One never knows when they might need a little bacon grease. Have you ever scrambled an egg is just a touch of bacon grease? Never mind, another dish, another day.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
3 tablespoons of whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of bacon grease
2 cups milk (any percent will do)
1 1/2 tablespoons Gravy Master
1 lb stew beef tips
2 cans of carrots (use fresh if you would like but they will need to be cooked before using)
2 baking potatoes
1 bag frozen peas (I use the steamer bags and cook them per the directions before using)
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon herbs de provence (I buy it here and use it very often in my cooking)
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 rolled pie crusts
Havarti cheese
1 egg, well beaten
Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 275 degrees. Begin by melting the butter and bacon grease at medium high heat in a dutch oven. The bacon grease is entirely optional but if you choose to exclude it add an additional tablespoon of butter. Add two tablespoons of the whole wheat flour. You may ask, why bother with whole wheat flour when she just glopped bacon grease in to the pan? The whole wheat flour has a nuttiness to it that plays well in this dish. Once the fat is melted, add in the milk and Gravy Master. Whisk until thickened. Coat beef tips lightly in the remaining 1 tablespoon of flour and drop in the thickened gravy along with all of the spices. I use my 4 quart dutch oven from Lodge for this recipe because it heats very evenly. Bake in the oven for 3-4 hours with the lid on. This can also be done in a crock pot on low heat all day.
2. Remove from the oven and return to the stove. At this point I dig out the beef tips and put them in a bowl cutting them up with meat scissors in to small bites. Mostly because I have a two year old but partly because I don't want to bite into a huge chunk of meat. Turn heat on low and whisk to combine the gravy (after cooking for 4 hours you have created your own beef stock of sorts and it needs to be incorporated into the gravy). Add the carrots and cooked peas.
3. Stab both baking potatoes with a fork and wrap in moist paper towels. Cook in the microwave until soft to the touch, about 4 minutes. You want them to still be a bit firm. Hard chop the cooked potatoes and gently incorporate them into the gravy. The potatoes need to go in last so they don't fall to pieces when stirring.
4. Here is your final mix right before it goes in to the pie shell.
5. Pour mixture in to your pie crust until just below the top. You don't want it to go too high or it will bubble over in the oven.
6. Place the Havarti cheese on top of the beef mixture. Yes, this recipe has bacon grease and cheese. Back off. Provolone would also work well here.
7. Place the second crust and brush on a beaten egg to make the crust golden brown and flaky.
Tips:
- You will notice that I did not add salt to this dish. Since we are watching our sodium we added it to taste after we plated it. I would recommend adding 2 teaspoons of salt to the gravy if you want to add it at the beginning.
- The recipe I provided makes enough beef mixture for three pies. I froze two quart sized bags with the mix for later use.
- This one pie made six big servings, enough for our dinner, and four lunches for Matt to take to work.
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