Meat & Potato Pies

I must say the second time making this recipe went much better than the first. I think I was better prepared mentally and more comfortable with the recipe. That said, it still takes a lot of planning for this recipe. And a ton of time. Luckily it's a filling dish, so people will eat, at most, one pie per person so you won't be making a lot of these for a small party.

 Pie Crust

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 stick (8 Tbsp) butter, chilled, cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp) vegetable shortening, chilled and cut
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup cold water

Filling

• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 6 oz chuck steak, diced into 1/4 inch pieces
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 medium red potato, peeled and diced into 1/4 inch pieces
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and diced into 1/4 inch pieces
• 1/4 tsp ground sage
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 egg, beaten with 1 Tbsp water, for brushing over the tops

Place flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter and shortening over the flour mixture. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse yellow meal, without any white powdery bits remaining, about 15 pulses. Then turn the mixture in to a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle 1/2 cup water over the mixture and toss with a rubber spatula until the dough sticks together. Add more water 1 Tbsp at a time if the dough is dry (better too wet than too dry). Divide the dough in half, form into discs, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours or up to 3 days.

To make the filling, heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the meat and sear on both sides until crusty brown, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a bowl. Add the onions to the skillet and saute until well browned. Return the meat to the pan, sprinkle the flour over it and mix with a wooden spoon until combined. Slowly pour in the chicken broth while stirring. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 1.5 hours.

Add the chopped potato, carrot, sage, salt and pepper and cook for another 30 minutes. Remove from the heat. Transfer to another bowl and cool to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator. On a generously floured surface, roll out one of the disks very thin. Use a 6 inch saucer to cut out six circles. Fit the circles into a 6-cup muffin pan, leaving the overhang. Fill generously with the meat and potato filling.

Roll out the second disc of dough. Use a 4 inch cookie cutter to cut out six circles. Brush the overhanging dough with water and lay the circles over the filling. For each pie, fold the overhang over the top dough circle and press with your fingers to seal. Cut slits in the top of each pie to form vents, and brush the tops with the beaten egg. Bake for 1 hour, rotating the pan midway through baking.

NOTES: I learned from the last time I made this: you can easily break this recipe down into more manageable parts and do it over several days, only baking on the final day. There's a lot of "let it simmer for an hour" so you do have to have a larger chunk of time for some of it, but they really are delicious in the end.

Serves: 6

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 5 hours 45 minutes

Recipe from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook by Dinah Bucholz