Made this for the woman for valentines day. Came out pretty damn good.
Filling ingredients:
- 2 pound cheap beef roast, cubed up. I used sirloin ends I got cheap.
- pound of roughly chopped onions
- pound of sliced mushrooms
- half a head of minced garlic
- pound of chopped carrots.
- pound of chunked up potatoes (I left these out, but should have put them in)
- pint of stout.
- 1/2 cup of butter (use 1/4c for searing veg, 1/4c for searing beef)
- couple cups beef broth (I used lamb broth)
- teaspoon each dried rosemary, thyme, black pepper.
- 1/4c flour
- 1/2 pound sharp white cheddar cheese
- random shit for adjusting the flavor (salt, Worcestershire sauce, whatever you feel it's missing)
For the pastry, I used 3x the 'pie variation' recipe from Alton Brown's "just here for more food" recipe. I'll write it up if anyone wants it. Storebought puff pastry would probably do the job pretty well.
Directions.
The recipe calls for beef broth, but I substituted lamb stock - I simmered the bones from the lamb chops from the night before for a few hours. I never throw out bones, they always get saved for stock/soup/pho/whatever:
You won't get a maillard reaction when you're stewing stuff, so it's important to sear everything first to impart that good maillard flavor. Start by cooking down your onions in butter.
HELL YEAH GIRLFRIEND'S MAKING BLUEBERRY BISCUITS:
You have garlic and mushrooms. You have carrots too, not shown here. Use knife.
When the liquid's cooked out of the onions and they start to brown, toss in the garlic to brown along with them. When they start looking good, throw in the mushrooms/carrots and keep stirring until the liquid starts to come out of the mushrooms.
You have meat. Use knife.
When all the liquid is cooked out of the veg and the mushrooms start to brown, throw in a bit of stock to deglaze the pan and dump it into a bowl. Lookin' good.
Wipe out the pot, throw in some fresh butter and sear off your meat in small batches.
When the meat's done, deglaze. I'm using St. Ambroise Stout from Quebec, which has a wonderful smoky flavor to it that really suits meat.
Throw the veg back in, top up with stock so everything's covered, then throw the herbs/pepper on top. Bring this to a boil, turn back to a simmer and cook for 2-3 hours.
HELL YEAH BISCUITS. These were meant to go with supper, but we ended up eating more than enough of them before. When they come straight out of the oven and you've got softened butter ready, there's nothing like it.
After your 2-3 hours are up, uncover the pot and simmer some more. When the meat starts to fall apart and the liquid is nicely reduced, shake in the flour and give it a good stir to thicken it. Kill the heat, and stir in the cheese. When it cools down to the point of not burning your face, give it a taste and start adjusting - I threw in salt and Worcestershire sauce to put the flavor where I wanted it.
Crust is made. I used this Corningware dish, but a small dutch oven or big cast iron frying pan would be great. Or make a couple deep dish pie crusts. Fill with filling, lay on the top crust and crimp everything together.
Throw it in the oven at 350F for about 40 minutes. Bam:
Success.
Filling ingredients:
- 2 pound cheap beef roast, cubed up. I used sirloin ends I got cheap.
- pound of roughly chopped onions
- pound of sliced mushrooms
- half a head of minced garlic
- pound of chopped carrots.
- pound of chunked up potatoes (I left these out, but should have put them in)
- pint of stout.
- 1/2 cup of butter (use 1/4c for searing veg, 1/4c for searing beef)
- couple cups beef broth (I used lamb broth)
- teaspoon each dried rosemary, thyme, black pepper.
- 1/4c flour
- 1/2 pound sharp white cheddar cheese
- random shit for adjusting the flavor (salt, Worcestershire sauce, whatever you feel it's missing)
For the pastry, I used 3x the 'pie variation' recipe from Alton Brown's "just here for more food" recipe. I'll write it up if anyone wants it. Storebought puff pastry would probably do the job pretty well.
Directions.
The recipe calls for beef broth, but I substituted lamb stock - I simmered the bones from the lamb chops from the night before for a few hours. I never throw out bones, they always get saved for stock/soup/pho/whatever:
You won't get a maillard reaction when you're stewing stuff, so it's important to sear everything first to impart that good maillard flavor. Start by cooking down your onions in butter.
HELL YEAH GIRLFRIEND'S MAKING BLUEBERRY BISCUITS:
You have garlic and mushrooms. You have carrots too, not shown here. Use knife.
When the liquid's cooked out of the onions and they start to brown, toss in the garlic to brown along with them. When they start looking good, throw in the mushrooms/carrots and keep stirring until the liquid starts to come out of the mushrooms.
You have meat. Use knife.
When all the liquid is cooked out of the veg and the mushrooms start to brown, throw in a bit of stock to deglaze the pan and dump it into a bowl. Lookin' good.
Wipe out the pot, throw in some fresh butter and sear off your meat in small batches.
When the meat's done, deglaze. I'm using St. Ambroise Stout from Quebec, which has a wonderful smoky flavor to it that really suits meat.
Throw the veg back in, top up with stock so everything's covered, then throw the herbs/pepper on top. Bring this to a boil, turn back to a simmer and cook for 2-3 hours.
HELL YEAH BISCUITS. These were meant to go with supper, but we ended up eating more than enough of them before. When they come straight out of the oven and you've got softened butter ready, there's nothing like it.
After your 2-3 hours are up, uncover the pot and simmer some more. When the meat starts to fall apart and the liquid is nicely reduced, shake in the flour and give it a good stir to thicken it. Kill the heat, and stir in the cheese. When it cools down to the point of not burning your face, give it a taste and start adjusting - I threw in salt and Worcestershire sauce to put the flavor where I wanted it.
Crust is made. I used this Corningware dish, but a small dutch oven or big cast iron frying pan would be great. Or make a couple deep dish pie crusts. Fill with filling, lay on the top crust and crimp everything together.
Throw it in the oven at 350F for about 40 minutes. Bam:
Success.
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