Grass Fed Beef Cast Iron Skillet Savory Pot Pie Recipe

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It’s been a little chilly here in Mt. Baldy, and I’ve been craving pot pies. I thought it might be fun to bake this one the old-fashioned way and do it in our seasoned cast iron skillet. For those of you who are fearful of cast iron because you’ve had a hard time with your recipes sticking, I’ve included a bonus down below to show you how we keep our cast iron pan well seasoned, and believe me, this makes all the difference in how well they perform! But back to the pot pie recipe! I decided to go with grass fed beef and to sweeten things up a bit. This recipe includes figs and dates which provide a sweetness that is well complemented by the all-butter crust that crumbles and melts in your mouth. I went with a spelt crust which provided a nice nutty flavor. Here’s a great link all about spelt and it’s origins and nutritional qualities. It is not gluten free, but it can be a nice alternative for people with wheat allergies.

This savory pot pie pie is only placed in the oven to bake the crust, otherwise, most of the cooking is down in the Crockpot. And this is the easiest part of the recipe, as all you have to do is plop everything into the Crockpot and let it cook for hours. The smell that fills the house will drive you crazy! We have been on the kick of eating more healthy, so we are purchasing all organic veggies and beef that has not been loaded with antibiotics. The more difficult part of this recipe comes with making the homemade crust. You do have the option of purchasing store bought dough and using that instead, but the homemade all butter crust is quite amazing. And, this might be a great opportunity to learn how to fraisage, which is just a fancy French word for scraping the dough across the counter with the palm of your hand. When you do this, you create a network of layers as you bring the dough together. The result is an amazing flaky crust that will have everyone coming back for more.

Beef Pie Filling

INGREDIENTS FOR PIE FILLING

Grass Fed Beef Chuck

1/4 cup Red Wine

1/2 Water

1 Yellow Squash

1 Zucchini

1 Handful of Dates- sliced and pit removed

1 Handful Figs- sliced

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Pepper

1/4 tsp Garlic powder and/or chopped garlic clove

1/4 tsp Thyme

1/4 tsp Herbs de Provence

2 tbsp Olive Oil

1 Yellow Onion chopped

1 cup sliced Mushrooms

1 Red Bell Pepper

DIRECTIONS

Chop the beef chuck into large chunks and place in the Crockpot slow cooker with the red wine and water and turn to high. Chop and add in the squash, zucchini, dates and figs. Add salt, pepper, garlic, thyme, and herbs de provence. (Herbs de provence is simply a blend of French/Italian herbs. Generally its a mix of thyme, marjoram, rosemary, basil, fennel, sage and lavender. I love using it in my scrambled eggs, salad dressings or in pasta dishes! So tasty!)

In a non-stick pan, heat olive oil and add in chopped onion, mushrooms, and bell pepper. Heat until all the veggies look glazed. Onions should soften and look a little browned. Add this mixture into the Crockpot. After about an hour, turn the Crockpot to low and let it simmer a good part of the day (about 4-5 hours).

Pie Dough Recipe

INGREDIENTS FOR PIE DOUGH

8 oz. (16 Tbsp) of very cold European Butter (salted or unsalted, I always use salted because I love the flavoring. My favorite brands are Plugra and Kerrygold)

2 1/2 cups whole Spelt (you can substitute all-purpose flour here or do a combo of the two, flour and spelt)

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp sea salt

3-5 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar on ice in a cup (can also use 1/4 cup of well shaken buttermilk or yogurt)

1 Egg (to brush on top later)

DIRECTIONS

Chop refrigerated butter, wrap in wax paper and freeze

In a large mixing bowl add the spelt, sugar and salt and blend. Chop butter into mixture with pastry cutter until chunked. Add one cold tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to mixture and chop in with pastry cutter, then add next tablespoon vinegar and chop in again. Add a third, fourth and fifth tablespoon only if mixture is not starting to come together. I tend to use my hands to stir up the spelt (or flour) over the butter chunks and then use the pastry cutter to bring the mixture together more. If the mixture starts to warm up at all, place it in the freezer to chill… the trick is keeping the butter chunks large and frozen and to not chop too many times, rather, get the dough mixed but let the butter chunks remain.

You have two options here…

The first option is you can fraisage the dough (which makes it more flaky).

To fraisage… take large handfuls of the dough and smudge the dough onto your board with the heel of your hand. Scrape up each section of dough and bundle it together into two balls. Wrap the balls with wax paper and form into discs and place in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

The second option is to do the roll, fold, roll, fold method. For this, you roll out the dough into a large rectangle, the fold it into thirds. Then you roll that pocket out and then fold into thirds again. Wrap your cloth or wax paper around this rectangle and place in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

After chilled, roll out the dough to fit a cast iron skillet, a 9″ pie plate or the muffin pan. Set the dough into the skillet or glass pie plate and work it into the edges. Chill in the freezer. Roll out top dough flat and set in freezer. (For the mini pies, this dough recipe makes enough for 5 mini pies. Take each disc and roll it flat. Place one side of the rolled out dough into the muffin tin and cut the remaining dough off. Use the remaining dough to roll out tops for the pies.) Try to work the dough as little as possible as this ensures that it comes out more flaky.

Turn the Crockpot off to allow the meat mixture to cool somewhat.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Use a fork to poke holes in the dough. Parbake the dough (with no meat filling yet) for about 15-20 minutes, until it barely starts to brown. This will harden up the crust a bit so it can hold the meat filling.

Once barely starting to brown, remove the crust from the oven and let it cool for about 15-20 minutes. While the crust is cooling, you can be taking chunks of meat out of the Crockpot and shredding the meat. Place the meat back in the Crockpot so the meat absorbs more of the yummy juices.

Take the pie dough tops out of the fridge and let them start to soften a bit.

When the crust is cool, spoon the meat mixture into the crust. Then place the dough on top of the crust and flute the crust by pressing it between your thumb and fingers to give it a decorative edge or use a fork pressed into the edge.

Cut slits into the top of the pie.

Scramble an egg and coat the top of the pie with the egg wash.

Place the pie into the oven at 375 degrees and bake until the pie crust top turns golden brown, this may take between 25-40 minutes depending on whether you made the larger skillet pie or the smaller pot pies.

BONUS: How to Season Your Cast Iron Skillet

Once you have a seasoned skillet, you should be able to cook just about anything in it and not have food stick. Use a straight edge metal spatula to scrape food bits out of the skillet and then do a light washing. Avoid using too much soap. You will need to get in the habit of seasoning the pan after each cleaning, and it only takes a few minutes and it is soooo worth it. The truth is, cast iron is a much healthier option for cooking. You do not experience the toxic fumes from non-stick pans. And the iron from the skillet pan is actually better for you than things like aluminum (scientists are finding that aluminum is causing many degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s).

Here’s how to season your pan: rub a little olive oil into it and then heat it up on the stovetop or BBQ pit until its hot. Make sure to completely coat the cooking surface. Then simply let it cool. It’s ready to use!