Lamb & Sweet Potato Pot Pie

Category: Main Dishes | Blog URL: http://duodishes.com/2009/08/07/an-oddly-brilliant-inspiration/

This recipe was entered in The Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook contest, a compilation of the world’s best food blogs which was published in Fall 2010.

Photo: The Duo Dishes

Ingredients

Filling

1 pound lamb, cubed

2 celery stalks, sliced

1/2 large red onion, chopped

2 large sweet potatoes, parboiled, peeled and cubed

1 cup frozen peas

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds

1 bay leaf

3 tablespoons flour

3 ounces demi glace

1 cup red wine

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1/2 tablespoon black pepper

Olive oil

Crust (adapted from Simply Recipes)

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped

Zest of 1 orange, minced

Zest of 1 lemon, minced

3/4 cup butter, chilled and cubed

1/2 cup shortening

8 tablespoons ice water

1 1/2 tablespoons milk

Preparation

Start with crust. Combine flour, sugar, rosemary, thyme and salt in a large bowl. Add chilled butter and combine with a pastry blender.

Add shortening and combine to cut into flour and butter mixture. Mixture should resemble coarse cornmeal.

Slowly add ice water by tablespoons. Mix well after each addition until dough begins to stick together.

Place dough on a flat surface and divide into 2 even pieces. Roll into balls, dust lightly with flour and wrap in plastic. Place in fridge for at least an hour.

Toss lamb with salt, pepper, caraway seeds, garlic and flour. Set aside.

As dough chills, swirl a bit of olive oil in the bottom of a very wide and deep pan. When sizzling, add lamb pieces and cook on medium heat until just browned. Scoop onto a separate plate.

If necessary, swirl a bit more olive oil in the same pan. Scrape up all the drippings on the pan, then slide onion and celery, cooking down until they soften and go translucent.

Pour in wine and demi glace. Stir well. Add lamb back to the vegetables, followed by peas and bay leaf. Cover, turn down to a simmer and cook about 15 minutes.

Stir together water and cornstarch and pour into lamb and veggies. Mix well. Add sweet potatoes and cook another 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely. Remove bay leaf.

Once filling has cooled, take chilled dough and, on a floured surface, roll one ball for bottom crust layer. Drop in 9-inch pie dish and trim edges. Place in the fridge and roll second piece of dough for top.

Remove bottom crust layer from fridge and pour in filling. Top with second layer and trim edges if necessary. Roll top crust edge over bottom crust. Put back in the fridge or pop in freezer 2-4 minutes for a quick chill if dough feels at all soft.*

Just before baking, brush milk over top crust. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown.

Here’s where you can make this dish early. Let the filling cool completely in the fridge. When cool, assemble pie with both layers and filling and chill until ready to bake. As for the continuous chilling methods, this is the best way to keep a flakey crust. Never, never, never bake soft, soggy dough. Avoid a disaster and overchill if necessary!

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About

We’ve never had dog food, although apparently it won’t kill you to taste it. There’s this certain kind of dog food that combines lamb and sweet potatoes, and we know a certain dog who eats it. She seems to enjoy it. Although what plops out of the can does not look appetizing, the combination of tender lamb and sweet potatoes remains an intriguing one. We took to the ‘net to see how others have combined them before, and there appear to be many shepherd’s pies, stews and even curries. We wanted a pie for sure, but we wanted one with a flakey crust. One good enough for man and man’s best friend. And, well, that was that!

We will not forget to mention that the secret and winning ingredient in this pie is the demi glace. We won a drawing from The Food Addicts, and the prize was this powerful package of Savory Choice beef demi glace. We’ve tasted a killer osso bucco with demi glace, so we know it has the ability to really shape a dish. When the little box arrived in the mail with our prize and a sweet card from Krissy and Daniel, we knew we had to make them proud. Hopefully, we did just that. Perhaps we can send them a virtual slice to show our gratitude!