A Taste of Alaska: Beef Pot Pies and Getting Ready to Travel

Friday, February 12, 2016

Beef Pot Pies and Getting Ready to Travel

I'm getting ready for my spring travel season. I'm on the road from Feb. 29 until May 11 or so. Each week I am trying to get something into the freezer for dinners for the family. I know it won't take care of all the nights, but maybe once a week or so someone can just pull something out of the freezer and stick it in the oven or the crock pot.

I would go all out and do a "30 crock pot meals in a day" kind of thing, but Dave is not really fond of crock pot meals. So I'll do a couple crock pot meals, sticks some ziplocks with marinated meat in the freezer to grill, and have these beef pot pies ready to bake. It's not a lot, but it is one way of saying I miss and love my family while I'm gone.

Beef Pot Pies

3-4 lb. beef pot roast

salt and pepper

olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 ribs celery, diced

2 carrots, diced

2 cloves garlic

2 Tbsp. tomato paste

2 cups red wine

4 cups beef broth

4 baking potatoes, cubed

4 carrots, diced

1 16 oz. pk. frozen corn

1 16 oz. pk. frozen peas

4 cups good beef broth, depending on liquid from roast

7 Tbsp. all purpose flour

5 Tbsp. butter

pastry for 3 double crust pies

For the Beef,

Preheat oven to 325°

Heat olive oil in dutch oven, salt and pepper beef, sear in dutch oven until all sides are browned, set aside on a plate. Add more oil to pot, add onions, celery, and carrots. Cook until softened. Add garlic and tomato paste, stir for 1 minutes. Add red wine, reduce to half, add beef broth, return roast to pan, including any liquid on the plate. Cover roast and place in oven for 3-4 hours. Remove roast from oven and let cool. Strain solids from liquid and reserve liquid. Discard solids. Dice beef.

Bring diced potatoes to boil in large pot. Add carrots once the water is boiling and cook for 3-5 minutes, until slightly tender. Drain and cool with cold water. Mix carrots, potatoes, peas, corn and beef together, set aside.

Measure liquid from dutch oven. Add beef broth until liquid measures 6 cups. Melt butter in medium saucepan. Add flour and cook, stirring very often, until flour is dark tan and toasted. Add liquid and whisk so no lumps form. Stir until mixture boils. Strain mixture through fine mesh sieve and add to vegetable and beef mixture.

Use 3 regular size disposable pie pans, 18 miniature pie pans or a combination. I figure 6 mini pans for every regular pie. If I am making a large pie, I line the bottom of the pan with crust and add a top crust over the filling, if I'm using small pans, I just add a top crust.

Divide beef mixture among desired number of pans, top with crust and wrap top with plastic wrap. Then wrap with foil and add reheating instructions to top. I always remind my family to remove the plastic wrap, that stuff is easy to miss if you are in a hurry, or throw the whole thing in the oven, foil and all.