Steak and Stilton Pie

Olive oil for sautéing

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

4-8 oz sliced mushrooms

1 lb stew beef

2 tbsp flour

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp Coleman’s English Mustard powder

1 cube/packet beef bouillon

2 tbsp butter

1 pint Guinness or English Ale (used homebrew Belgian Winter Ale b/c that’s what I had on hand)

1 small package frozen chopped carrots + peas

8 oz Stilton cheese, crumbled

Pastry crust (2 if making a lid, otherwise use 4 russet potatoes for mashed potato topping)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

1. Chop onions and garlic. Cut steak into bite-sized pieces.
2. In oven-proof stew pot, heat oil over medium heat and cook onions and garlic until soft (about 5 minutes)
3. Add mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes more. Remove mixture and set aside.
4. Turn up heat and add meat to the pot to sear on all sides.
5. Once seared, add salt and pepper to taste, then add flour to seal in juices and stir well to coat all of the meat. Add onion mixture back to the pot and stir.
6. Gradually add beer to prevent flour from sticking. Scrape bottom of pan and stir everything well.
7. Add beef bouillon and mustard. Slowly add in water to thin gravy, if needed. This depends on how much juice your meat released.
8. Bring to a slow boil, add frozen veggies and mix well.
9. Cover pot and cook in oven at 375 F for at least two hours.

**If using store bought pie crusts, don’t forget to take them out of the fridge in plenty of time to warm up to room temp.

A good pie filling should be rich, robust, and thick! So if, after the oven time, it’s still quite thin, place pot uncovered back on the stove and reduce until it thickens.

Remove from heat (oven or burner) and allow to cool slightly.

Prep your pie plate with crust. Tip stew into plate and spread it out evenly.

Option A: Top with crumbled Stilton and second pie crust. Pinch edges together, make a few vent holes on top, brush with beaten egg. Cook for about 45 minutes at 357 F.

Option B: Using about 4 russet potatoes make a batch of smooth and creamy mashed potatoes (well seasoned of course!) mix crumbled Stilton into mash and top your pie with this instead of second pastry crust. (a la Shepherd’s Pie) Cook for about 15 minutes at 425 F.

Butternut Squash Lasagna…or “It has vegetables in it so it must be healthy, right?”

Well, the jury is still out on the dietary pros and cons of this dish. I meant to enter the recipe into a calorie counter, but got too nervous about what the results might be, so it never happened.  I’d venture to guess, however, that it is no worse for you than traditional lasagna and maybe, just maybe, it is better given the addition of squash, which is oh-so-tasty and has plenty of good nutrients and benefits (a girl can dream).  Either way, how can you go wrong with the classic butternut squash and sage combination, especially when you throw in browned butter and cheese!

Vegetarian Tikka Masala…or, “How can I use this leftover tomato soup and fresh cilantro?”

Tomatoes and fresh cilantro are two of my favorite things.  Although, I suspect that most recipes I will post here will contain a line or two with me proclaiming, “[insert edible item here] is one of my favorite things!!”

I digress.