Mini beef and mushroom pot pies

On saturday we had mini chicken pot pies and since I had stewing beef on hand and leftover pie dough I was  in the mood to try some experimenting in the kitchen.

This is not a beef stew with a bit of crust over top, instead I started as I always do with grandma's traditional German gravy recipe.

Ingredients:
-1 lb stewing beef, at room temperature (let it stand out about an hour or until it's no longer cold to the touch)

1/4-1/2 cup butter

2 bay leaves

Salt

Heat large pot or dutch oven on high heat, add butter and once it is sizzling add meat in one even layer on the bottom.  Now just step away and let it do it's thing.  From time to time come back and scrape the bottom of the pot with a metal spoon and turn the meat.
Turn heat lower if needed but this process takes some time and the water from the meat should not come out and cloud the pot, if it does it will come out in small amounts and dry up then begin to brown again.

Meat should be browned well all over.  At this point I season with salt, and add bay leaves and cover with water.

Cook on low for about 3 hours or until meat is fork tender.

Usually I thicken it and serve with mashed potaotes or  poutine..  or potato pancakes and sauerkraut but today I left it as watery meat juice/stock and used this as my pot pie base.

If you're doing this the day before then that is much more ideal, just cool it and put it all in the fridge.

When ready to make the pot pies you will strain the cooked meat from the stock and set aside.

Chop some mushrooms (creminis' are nice) about 4 large ones chopped in a large dice)

Sautee in 2-3 tbsp olive oil on high heat and once they are nice and "Brown" salt them slightly and set aside in a bowl.  Add 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce to mushrooms.

If you want to add potato then it's up to you, I didnt' but you would do what I did in the chicken pot pie, peeling a few tiny potatoes and cubing then boiling in salted water and straining.


To make the sauce:

Mix butter and flour in the pot used to brown the mushrooms.  This is going to be a super dark rich roux, almost like making gumbo so I set this on low and let it really take on some colour.

Set the beef stock near by, and when the roux is nice and brown bring up the heat to medium high and begin to add stock and whisk to thicken.  If you need some water from the kettle go ahead and add that in.  Taste for salt and season to taste.

Set this sauce aside when it is thick like a gravy and coats the back of a spoon.

Heat the oven to 400.

Roll out the dough and cut into circles. Set aside in fridge to stay cool.

Divide stewed beef cubes among ramikins and then top with mushroom mixture.  Ladel enough sauce over top (about 1/2 cup or so)

I added 1 tbsp dollop of sour cream on top of mine, and then proceeded to cover with dough and brush with  beaten egg.

Bake for about 20 minutes with ramikins on a foil lined tray and broil until nice and brown (staying close to the oven because it takes only a few seconds!)

I hope this inspires you to also make some fun little pot pies!

"Get well" Party

It's flu season and everyone I know is sick, but we still wanted to have some fun so we threw together this party on a whim and it has a bit of a "get well" theme with fresh fruits, tea and comfort foods like mini chicken pot pies.
Mini pot pies: 

Start with chicken:

You can do this the day before and it's very easy. 

Add chicken to large stock pot, cover with water and add about 3-5 tbsp salt and one squeeze of lemon juice.   You could add garlic, onion, celery but let's keep it easy and simple. 

Place pot on heat on low (chicken can stand for 30 minutes to reach close to room temp) and then heat it starting on low until it's medium low but no higher so it can poach gently.  Will take about 2 hours. 

When chicken is done (it should be cooked all the way through) remove from stock. 

At this point you can reduce the stock by boiling with lid off (not on high, just mediumish and it will reduce (keep in mind it will be pretty salty if reduced too much. 

Cool the stock down and store in the fridge. 

Remove meat from bones and chop, place in a container in fridge. 

When ready to make pot pies start with the pastry: 

Pastry: 

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 cup cold butter, cut in small cubes

1/4-1/2 cup ice cold water

1/2 tbsp white vinegar (or lemon juice) 

Add salt to flour, add butter and use hands to blend using thumb against fingers to press the butter and flour together until it's a "crumb" like consistency. 

Mix water with vinegar or lemon juice and add to the dough 1/4 of a cup first and if you need more add more, up to 1/2 cup. 

Bring dough together and flatten into 2 flat round disks (for easy rolling) 

Wrap in plastic wrap and set in fridge.

Veggies: 

Chop veggies

1 cup celery

1 1/2 cup carrots, diced or sliced into rounds if using tiny carrots

1 medium onion

Brown veggies in 2 tbsp olive oil and add chicken stock.  Cook until tender.  

Strain veggies and set aside.  Set aside stock as well for cream sauce (below) 

Peel 3-4 small potatoes or 2 medium potatoes and chop into tiny cubes. Add to a small saucepan of salted water and boil until tender.  Strain, cool and set aside. 

Prepare a small plate or frozen peas. 

At this point remove pie dough from fridge if it is solid so that it can soften on the counter for rolling. 

For cream sauce: 

Add equal parts butter and flour to a pan (I use about 1/4 lb which is 1/2 cup butter) and then about 1/3 cup flour and mix well on medium heat.   Add 3/4 cup heavy cream of milk (or half of each, depends on how rich you like it)  

Add stock and boiling water from kettle, about 2 cups or more. 

Stir/whisk on medium high heat until mixture thickens like an alfredo sauce consistency. 

Remove from the pot and set aside (covered with a cling wrap right up onto the surface so that it does not develope a skin) 

Roll out pie dough until it's about 1/3 inch thick and using a glass or round cutter cut enough circles to fit and number of individual oven safe ramikins. 

Preheat oven to 400 F 

To assemble pot pies layer with chopped chicken, carrot/celery/veggie mix, steamed potatoes and a sprinkling of peas in each. 

Ladel about 2 tbsp of cream sauce over each. Cover with layer of dough and brush with egg (1 egg cracked and whisked) 

Set all the ramikins on a tray (line tray with foil incase they bubble over) 

Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until dough on top is cooked and broil if needed to achieve a nice golden crust (stay close to the oven when broiling as this process goes very quick, one minute it looks white and the next it can go straight to BURN) 

Enjoy hot or warm. 

Blooming garlic bread (from the"midnight" buffet which we always seem to have after a long fun day) 

1 large sourdough bread or Italian style bread (a nice crusty bread is best) 

Slice into it creating a "checker" pattern using a serrated bread knife. Do not cut all the way through, just stop once you feel you're getting close to the bottom. 

Now either you can make a raw garlic butter or a cooked one:  I made it raw (meaning it's just grated garlic and room temp butter slathered in between the cuts. 

For a cooked version just sautee your garlic in the butter until it smells like the garlic bread we all love and then drizzle this mixture in between the cuts in the bread. 

Salt your butter slightly either way. 

For additional goodness I added small pieces of brie cheese in between so they melt into gooey deliciousness. 

Get a large piece of parchment and crinkle it up into a ball, now wet it under the faucet and shake it out so it's not dripping. 

Wrap your bread in the parchment and bake on 400.  When the parchment is dry and the bread is crisp on the outside with soft melted cheese on the inside then it's ready.  About 15 minutes or so. 

You can sprinkle with chopped chives and enjoy pulling the pieces of bread apart with your guests! 

Chicken pot pie

What do you do when you have a whole chicken and lots of peas? Well I was in the mood for chicken pot pie!

When I realized I didn't have any butter at home (from all the baking over the weekend) so I had to run to the store to get some. As soon as I set foot outside I realized "chicken pot pie" was a bad idea. It is one of the hottest days of the summer so far!

The chicken was already roasted the night before (lots of salt and lemon for a flavourful tender chicken) took all the meat off the bones and reserved the liquids from the pan in the same container for the meat to soak it up in the fridge, yum!

With fresh peas I shelled them and blanched for a few moments (as soon as they float) I threw them into an ice bath and then put them in the fridge for the next day.

All the vegetables like carrots, celery, onion, small chunks of potato and a few cloves of garlic got boiled in a stock until tender then it was time to make the roux... butter and flour in the pot and milk added to that, some black pepper and a bit of salt in the end.

Veggies and chicken got layered in the casserole, cream sauce was poured over and the oven was preheating on 375-400.

The pastry was made before hand (as soon as I got home with my butter!)

Chopped butter into small cubes and worked it into the flour then some cold milk brought it all together and the dough was shaped into a disk and refrigerated.

At this point it was ready for use so I rolled it out and draped it over the casserole/pan, poked a few holes in it and did an egg wash over.

Baked until it was bubbly and the crust was flaky and browned.