When the wife mentioned she had a hankering for pot pie, I wondered why we did not make it more often. After seeing the wife's version of home made pot pie, I realized why; although delicious, it takes a good bit of time and effort to make. It is, however, worth the effort.

If you have young kids, get them to help you do some of the prep. It's one of those childhood memories they will always carry with them, as opposed to shoving a store bought frozen pot pie in the microwave.

Below is the wife's recipe with some additional comments by yours truly. As with any recipe, you can modify it to your specific taste.

Slow Roasted Beef Pot Pie 

 Stew Beef - however much you think you need to feed your family - I used 2.5 pounds of stew beef.

Olive Oil - 2 to 3 tablespoons.

Onion - I used 3 medium – if you like onion use more.

Garlic - I used 2 cloves – if you like garlic use more.

Mushrooms - 12-16 ounces.

Peas, frozen, one bag.

Corn, 2 ears.

Merlot, for the acid. (Red Wine)  - about 2 to 3 cups (again to your taste)

Beef Broth (I used the one in the box) 1-2 boxes depending on how many you feed.

Put olive oil in large skillet, heat until ripples start in oil, add beef to brown, (this may get a little watery, if it does remove the water and add more oil).

Slice onions thin.

Mince garlic.

              

Remove browned meat from skillet and add onions and garlic, (may need to add a little more oil here) cook until caramelized (limp and golden brown) add meat back to pan, poor in wine to deglaze the pan, add a little beef broth as well.

In a large crock pot add ingredients from skillet and rest of beef broth – here I added seasonings, some McCormick’s grill seasoning, some basil and some oregano, about 1 teaspoon each, but season to your taste. (We tossed in the sliced up broccoli stalk and it cooked down nicely. A hand blender was used to mix the gravy, when ready for that step)

 I let this cook on high for about 2 hours, then cooked on low about 3 hours, remove the meat, and by this time it is nice and easy to shred. (The stew meat was so tender by this point that you could push on it with the back of a teaspoon and it would crumble..mmmm)  

Thicken the gravy with either a flour rue or corn starch and blend. Return the meat to the crock pot.  The  broccoli, potatos, peas, corn (The corn was roasted over a gas burner for extra flavor) and mushrooms were prepped/chopped– the broccoli and potatos, and corn were a little precooked to my taste preference.

 (The taters were put in a skillet and browned, then the broccoli was added to the skillet, along with more oil and merlot and corn as well as more beef broth which was simmered for 15 minutes or so – you can add what ever vegetables that you like :o) The peas were added to the crock pot along with the mushrooms. The skillet contents were also put in the crock pot. This was stirred and allowed to sit for another 15 minutes or so.              

I then put this mix mash into little ramekin bowls and toped with pie crust, you can either make the crust yourself or buy it premade at the store – top with egg wash and cut holes in the crust for air vents I cooked it at 400 degrees for 25-35 minutes depending on how crunchy you like your crust. 

Pie Crust

 1 1/3 cups flour

¼ cup butter

¼ cup Crisco

Blend with pasty cutter or use two butter knives,then slowly add 3 tablespoons cold water – use fork to mix.

 This makes enough tops for 5 pot pies in soup bowl size ramekins  Enjoy p.s.  mine made a lot for us to have left over’s, I am not putting the crust on or cooking until we go to eat, saving the mix mash by itself and doing the crust later. 

It made 5 pot pies with probably enough for 5 more.

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