Recipe RECIPE - Pot Pie by Varine

[Varine]

Varines Pot Pie

TH asked for me to post some recipes, and I made this recently as a special and it was reasonably popular so it's in my head.

I used braised lamb, but you can use whatever protein you want or just extra vegetables if you want to make it vegetarian or vegan. You will need an oven-safe pan to bake it in, I make these in single-serving cast iron pans but if you have a casserole pan or something that works fine. My batch size is significantly bigger than you normally would make at home, and I measure things a bit differently, so the measurements are a bit of a guess on my end at best as I don't really measure shit at work either. You can adjust them as necessary without much compromise, and I added in some extra notes in case you don't have something and want to make this or want to change it to something you prefer.

The measurements are guessed for about an 9x13 casserole pan, that seems to be a pretty common size. It will probably be a little bit too much, so if you have extra don't feel the need to overfill whatever dish you have. You can thin the filling out into a decent soup or something or freeze it for later.

Ingredients:

• Cooked Beef/Chicken/Lamb/Whatever - probably like 2 or 3 pounds
  (As I said, I used braised lamb that I shredded, but it isn't really important what you use here. Just make sure it's cooked and shredded or chopped into manageable pieces)
• Puff Pastry - enough to cover whatever dish you're using. If you have too much just roll the edges in, you want to try to seal it to the sides by pressing it into the dish walls. If you have multiple small pieces, wet your fingers and pinch them together at the seams to stitch them together. If you have gaps the sauce can boil over onto the top and you get a soggy pastry.
  (I hand made this, and I don't recommend doing that unless you REALLY want to say you made it from scratch)
• Mirepoix - About 3 cups
• Diced onion, carrots, and celery - I prefer white or yellow onions. Typical ratio is 2 parts onion to 1 part carrot and 1 part celery
• Garlic - 2 tablespoons or so, measure that shit with your heart
• Chopped potatoes - bite size chunks, remove the skin if you're using a hardy potato like a russet, it imparts a kind of bitter flavor and an uncomfortable texture, but if you are using yellow or red they're fine.
• Bag of frozen peas - you want about 1 to 2 cups
• White wine - enough to deglaze, probably about 1/2 cup will be fine. Sherry or brandy or something will also work, I don't reccommend red wine because it stains everything and I don't like how it looks, but if that isn't important and you've only got red wine then go for it. If you have no alcohol at all, you can just skip this and use your stock to deglaze (this is not preferred, alcohol and fat are used because a lot of flavor components are better soluable in them than just water or something - I'm not a chemist and don't totally understand why, just trust me, it tastes better)
• Roux - probably about 1 cup worth, so 1 stick butter to 1/2 cup of flour
• Melt equal parts butter and flour. If you are dairy free you can substitute whatever oil you prefer to use. I prefer a darker roux, which can take quite some time (20+ minutes), but a blonde is fine.
• Whisk and cook it for about 10 minutes for a blonde, you just want to cook out the raw flour taste. If you're gluten free you can thicken it with a starch slurry or something instead
• Milk or cream - 1/2 cup or so
• Stock - 8 ish cups - I typically use some of my braising liquid, but just use whatever you have. Chicken and beef stock together works really well imo, or use a rich roasted veggie stock if you aren't into animals.
• Herbs - dried it is fine, probably about 2 tablespoons total. Whatever your preferred herbs are. Oregano, thyme, and parsley are my typical go to most things
• Spices - Cumin, cayenne, ground pepper, chili powder

Directions:

• Start with cooking and chopping your meat of choice, set aside.
• In a large enough pot (4+ quarts), add in some oil and over medium-high heat throw in your garlic, and cook for about two minutes until fragrant, and then add in your mirepoix.
• Cook for another five to ten minutes until the vegetables begin to soften and sear. You want to get a little bit of that char and fond (the burnt bits) on your pan.
• Add in your herbs and spices, and cook for just another minute or so, and then slowly add in the wine to deglaze while scraping the pan to release the fond.
• Cook that down to au sec (almost dry, to where there aren't pools of liquid on the bottom of the pan), and add in your stock.
• Let this come up to a simmer and hold it there for 20 or 30 minutes.
• While simmering, add in your chopped up potatoes (if you add them before the liquid is hot they'll get mushy).
• While that is simmering away, start your roux by melting your butter or heating up whatever oil you're using over medium heat, and add your flour.
• Whisk and cook the roux for several minutes - if you are going for a dark roux, be careful not to scorch your butter. You can use a higher temp oil, like canola, mixed with the butter to make it easier, and turn your heat down after it starts to come together. Dark rouxs can take a REALLY long time, especially on electric ranges, but a blonde will be done in five to ten minutes. It will have a kind of nutty smell. The darker your roux the less it will thicken, so you may need to make more.

(roux can be stored in the fridge or freezer for quite some time without a problem, so make a bigger batch if you want to be sure you have enough).

(if you are using a slurry, obviously skip this and just mix up your slurry and add it at the end. Add your milk or cream directly to the stock pot here and let it simmer, do not let it boil if you're using skim or low fat milk or you risk curdling it).

• Once your roux is to your liking, slowly whisk in your milk or cream (cream will obviously give a richer taste, but is quite expensive and not an ingredient most people have on hand, nor is it very good for you comparatively. But I'm a chef, my food tastes better than what most people make because I don't give a shit about your arteries in ten years, not because I have special things). You should end up with a smooth texture.
• Slowly begin to mix that into the stock until you get to consistency. You want a bit thicker than nappe (like where you can stick to the back of a spoon), but not significantly.
• Add in your meat and peas, and let simmer and stir for another few minutes to make sure your roux is coming to its full potential - you don't want to find out it's still thickening up in the oven and you end up with a cake in there.

(if using slurry, add it in after the meat and peas and similarly let it come to full expansion so you don't overthicken in the oven).

• You want it thick enough to keep everything suspended through the sauce - if you have to dig to the bottom of the pan to pull up your ingredients, it's too thin. It should be relatively homogenous, and the consistency you have here will be really close to the end result.
• Once thickened add salt slowly until it taste like you think it should. Probably about a tablespoon, I just add it until it tastes right. If it tastes salty you probably added too much. It's hard to fix this, but you can add in a raw potato to help absorb some of it, or add a bit of sugar to mask it. Just don't add too much and you won't have to worry about it.
• Put this into your baking dish and lay your pastry over the top.
• Bake according to whatever your pastry directions say. Probably like 15 or 20 minutes at 350 to 375. You can also line the bottom with filo or pie dough or something if you'd like so that's a little easier to portion. If you DO line the bottom, I would recommend blind baking it for a few minutes to let it crisp and set so that you don't have a wet pile of raw dough on the bottom that you have to clean out.
• If you are making this ahead of time and refrigerate the sauce, then you will probably want to cut the temperature down a little bit and increase the time (don't go below around 325 or your pastry won't brown). So if your pastry says 350 for 20 minutes, turn it down to like 325 or 330 for like 25 to 30 minutes.
• Let it set for a few minutes before cutting and eating it, or you'll burn your mouth.

Note:
Let me know if you have any questions or need help with any of it! I'd be happy to try and help! I think I remembered everything... I don't have a real recipe for it in front of me, but I took a picture of the description I put on the board for the servers and I think I got most of what I did in there.

Source:

Varine

www.thehelper.net

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[The Helper]

Awesome! This is definitely a project right there. Alot more going on then I am used to. I am looking forward to the challenge. Thanks for the Recipe!

 

[The Helper]

I love this part of the Recipe

Puff Pastry - enough to cover whatever dish you're using. If you have too much just roll the edges in, you want to try to seal it to the sides by pressing it into the dish walls. If you have multiple small pieces, wet your fingers and pinch them together at the seams to stitch them together. If you have gaps the sauce can boil over onto the top and you get a soggy pastry.
(I hand made this, and I don't recommend doing that unless you REALLY want to say you made it from scratch)
[*]

The Pastry part would have to be its own recipe and he is right - the store stuff is worth it if you do not want have to work for that Scratch label.

 

[The Helper]

For Great Justice!