Quite possibly my favorite thing about fall is comfort food. I love slow cooking a meal all day, and then digging in all cozied up inside when it’s chilly outside! This meal encompasses all that and more! It really reminds me of my trip to London. My favorite pub meal was steak & ale pie… ohhhh man. What I wouldn’t give for a steak & ale pie from The Eagle and Child in Oxford, England again! {If my laptop hadn’t crashed I would show you a lovely picture of said delicious steak & ale pie!} It was this neat little pub our professor told us about. It is only a few blocks from Oxford University. It is acclaimed for housing famous literary geniuses such as J.R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis… such a fun little place! Anyway… this recipe is delicious and definitely a keeper for the winter.
**Quick substitution note… the recipe calls for boneless short ribs. We couldn’t find any nearby so we opted for stew meat which worked wonderfully. The key is having a cut of meat with some marbelization, you need the fat to make this recipe everything it is! We also couldn’t find cipollini onions, so we substituted shallots. Also — the recipe calls for 6 medium potatoes. I would hesitate slicing all of these until you need them. The amount you need will depend on the serving dishes you use.
Yumm! Serve with peas and dinner rolls for a yummy english inspired dinner!
Braised Short Rib, Stout and Potato Potpies
Ingredients:
For the filling:
4 lbs boneless short ribs, cut into 2-inch pieces
Course salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 T safflower oil
1 medium yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
5 garlic gloves, thinly sliced
2 bottles {2 ounces} stout, preferably Guinness {3 cups}
2 rosemary sprigs
1 lb cipollini onions, peeled
For the topping:
6 medium russet potatoes {3 1/2 lbs}
Extra-virgin olive oil, for brushing
Course salt and freshly ground pepper
Directions:
1. Make the filling: Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Season short ribs with salt and pepper. Dredge the short ribs in flour, coating all sides. Transfer to a large plate. Heat oil in a large dutch oven in batches, brown short ribs, about 1 minute per side. Transfer to a large plate using kitchen tongs.
2. Reduce heat to medium. Add yellow onion to dutch oven and cook until golden, about 8 minutes. Add garlic. Cook for 2 minutes. Return meat to dutch oven. Add stout and rosemary. Bring to a simmer. Cover and transfer to oven. Bake for 2 1/2 hours.
3. Remove dutch oven from oven and add cipollini onions. Braise until meat is tender and onions are cooked through, about 30 minutes. Shred meat using 2 forks. Season with salt and pepper. Divide filling among eight mini {1 cup} pie plates, or transfer to a 12 inch {8 cup} gratin dish.
4. Make the topping: Raise the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Peel potatoes, and very thinly slice each {preferably on a mandolin}. Arrange potatoes over meat to form tight concentric circles, working around the edge and overlapping each potato by three-quarters. Brush with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until topping is golden and filling is bubbling, about 45 minutes for mini potpies {1 hour for large potpie}.
Source & Recipe: Martha Stewart Living – October 2011 Issue
I also made some yummy dinner rolls to go with the potpies. I absolutely love dinner rolls and feel that there are some meals that are incomplete without them! Since I was running short on time when I decided to make them, I opted to go for my fall back recipe — the Kitchenaid Sixty-Minute rolls! Yes. They really only take 60 minutes from the time you combine ingredients until they’re coming out of the oven. Including rise time! Love, love, love this recipe.
Kitchenaid Sixty-Minute Rolls
Ingredients:
4-5 cups flour
3 T sugar
1 tsp salt
2 – 1/4 ounce packages quick rising yeast
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup butter
*optional: additional melted butter for brushing on top of baked rolls
Directions:
1. Combine 3 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt and undissolved yeast in bowl.
2. Attach bowl and dough hook. Turn to speed 2 and mix for 1 minute.
3. Combine milk, water and margarine in a saucepan. Heat over low heat, until liquids are very warm (120 to 130). Margarine does not need to melt.
4. Turn to speed 2 and gradually add liquid to flour mixture, about 30 seconds. Mix 1 minute longer. Continue on speed 2, adding remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, as needed. Mix until dough clings to hook, about 5 minutes.
5. Knead dough on speed 2 for 7-10 minutes longer, or until dough is smooth and elastic. Stop.
6. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover, let rise in a warm place 15 minutes.
7. Turn dough out onto floured board. Divide in half and shape as desired. Cover; let rise in slightly warm oven {about 90 degrees} for 15 minutes or until doubled in bulk {usually 15 minutes works just fine!}. **My note: I usually make “clover leaf” dinner rolls. Using a pizza cutter, cut dough in half. Cut one half of dough into 6 pieces. Cut each of the 6 pieces into 3 more pieces. Form the 3 pieces into balls and place all 3 balls in one cup in your muffin tin. Repeat until you have 24 dinner rolls.**
8. Bake at 425, for 12 minutes, or until nice and brown. Remove from baking sheets and cool on wire racks.
Source & Recipe: Food.com
Enjoy!
{Santies. Sunnyside Up} 