Recipe: Leftover Beef Pot Pie

Okay... The pie was officially "Delicious!"

Glad I made two b/c the first one only lasted 15 minutes!!!

* * * * *

So, Hubs has been on the road a lot lately. And I've been more-or-less trapped in the house (Not entirely: I did manage to *start* pruning one of my plum trees *and* I did do a bisque-firing! But that's a separate post!) (Maybe?!).

Anyway, I figured - /sarcasm/ after having to endure all that *dreadful* restaurant food (on his *dreadful* expense account!) /end sarcasm/, he might appreciate a Home-Cooked Meal.

What I wanted was asparagus with hollandaise sauce and some kinda BEEF.

What I ended up with was broccoli crowns with (Knorr-mix) hollandaise sauce, (heavily marinated) london broil with bearnaise sauce [bearnaise sauce = hollandaise + dried tarragon, btw], and "Cheaters" mashed potatoes (pre-made/nukable from the 'frigerator section of the store).

Normally I'd throw the london broil on the gas grill - but the weather wasn't cooperating - so I dragged out my "George Forman Wannabee" Contact Grill.

Now, I don't care WHAT the advertisements say, or how pretty the pictures on said advertisements look, a Contact Grill does NOT give the same results as a BBQ or Gas Grill! Not even close!!!

Low-Fat? You bet'cha! It squishes ALL the grease (="juiciness") out of the steak and, well, let's just say that the results are less-than-satisfying...

But at least the super-buttery goodness of the bearnaise sauce made it *almost* edible! We managed to gnaw our way through about half of the steak. The rest got bagged and tossed in the fridge. I tried to nosh on it for lunch the following day but - let's be honest - it just wasn't that good!

But I hated to waste it... I thought about making another soup (Gee, really?!), but then I settled on Beef Pot Pie!

As it turned out, I still had about a pound of stew meat left in the freezer + (I'm guessing) about a pound of chewy london broil. So that was the foundation of today's creation (which, incidentally, I started yesterday - but I think the whole thing could be done in one day).

Okay, enough yammering! Onto the Recipe:

QT's Leftover Beef Pot Pie

Yields two 9" deep-dish pies

Ingredients:

• 1-2 Tbs Olive Oil
• 1 lb leftover london broil, cut to bite-sized
• 1 lb stew meat cut down into bite-sized chunks
  (Or you could just use 2 lbs of stew meat)
• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves fresh minced garlic
• 2 shallots, chopped (optional - I happened to have 'em on-hand)
• 3-4 celery stalks, chopped
• 6-8 baby carrots, cut into thirds
• A few shakes of whatever all-purpose seasoning (I used Lawry's steak seasoning)
• 1 Tbs white sugar
• 16 oz broth (I happened to have leftover chicken broth in the fridge. I suspect beef broth would be even better!)
• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 1 can (~14 oz.) diced tomatoes
• 1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 8 oz sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1-2 cups dry red wine
• Frozen veggies (I used appx 1/2 cup ea of peas+carrots and white corn)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 Tbs tarragon (or, to taste)
• Salt & Pepper - if you think it still needs it
• Crusts for 2 x 9" Deep-dish pies (I'm not domestic enough to make my own!)

Instructions:

1. Chop your meats into bite-sized chunks (I found the stew meat to be a little too large).
2. Heat up a large, heavy pan (I used 3-1/2 qt dutch oven) with 1-2 Tbs olive oil.
3. If you're dealing with raw stew meat, toss it into the pot and brown it in the oil, on high heat. Sprinkle a few shakes of seasoning salt on the meat, as it's browning (If you've got pre-cooked meat - add that toward the end of the browning-stage of the raw meat).
4. Turn heat down to medium and add the onions, shallots, celery and carrots. Saute 'til the onions are limp.
5. Once they're translucent, turn the heat off and sprinkle sugar on top. Let 'em rest and "sweat" for appx 5-10 mins.
6. Turn heat back on to medium-low and toss in the mushrooms. Saute 'til brown.
7. Dump in appx 1/2 of the dry red wine to deglaze the pan.
8. Then dump in the broth and bouillon cubes - mix thoroughly and increase heat to medium.
9. Then add canned tomatoes (including liquid), mushroom soup and bay leaf.
10. Bring to a light boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for an hour. Taste-test it. Add tarragon and the rest of the wine. Taste-test it again and adjust accordingly (I went a little crazy with the tarragon!).
11. Continue to simmer for another hour or so (until the meat is tender). I think I let mine simmer for 2-3 hours, to be honest.
12. At this point, I stopped and put the pot in the fridge overnight (Hubs was still out of town!), but I did "taste-test" a whooooole lot of "stew" - enough that I considered it Dinner! ;-)
13. The next day, heat up the stew on medium-low heat. Add whatever frozen veggies your heart desires. Just get it heated up, at this point. You really don't need to do any more "cooking!" (and you want your frozen veggies to remain recognizable!).
14. If necessary, make a roux with 2 Tbs flour and enough water to make a paste. Dribble the flour paste into the stew, stirring constantly, until the mixture achieves a nice, thick "stewy" consistency.
15. Get yourself two deep-dish pie crusts (I cheated and went with frozen) and "Tops" for the pie crusts (pre-made rolled-up crusts, from the 'fridgerated rolls section of the store!). Defrost 'em - a bit - if necessary (You want 'em to be pliable).
16. Fill the pie-crust bottom to "just below the rim" with the beef mixture (don't forget to remove the bay leaf!).
17. Moisten the edges of the lower crusts with water, then place the top crust on top. Crimp the two crusts together and cut-off any excess.
18. Cut vent holes in the top
19. Bake in a pre-heated 350* oven for appx 35 minutes, or until golden brown (Mine ended up taking 50 mins in my cheesy nuker/convection oven @ 325* So much for it taking *less* time!).

Here are the pies - before baking:

If I manage to snap any "After" shots, I'll prob'ly just post 'em at the top (b/c inserting photos into blogger is a pain!)