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The cutest single serving pot pies, you've ever seen.
Here's a trick. How do I cater a weekday event while working full time? This week I had to turn to my handy dandy slow cooker.
I love making soups, in fact, I'd say I am pro at soups, (it's probably not hard to mess soups up). In college, slow cooker soups were my claim to fame, and they would provide me with a weeks worth of meals, stay on budget, and allow me to do my homework without worrying about cooking. I saw an opportunity.
This week I had to fulfill a catering job, while also working full time at my 9-5. Knowing my schedule was full but I still had a standard to live up to, I wanted everything to be home cooked, and prepared in style. I turned to my canning jars, and what I know best, soups.
Given that pot pies are basically thickened soup surrounded with crust, I saw them as the perfect opportunity to stay on brand, provide a quality product, and stay on budget. Here's what I did...
The event was on a Thursday, so wanting everything to be fresh and hearty, late Tuesday night I cooked the beef filling on low.
B E E F
F I L L I N G
- 2 cups of heavy cream
- 2 pounds of stew meet
- 1 pounds of garden carrots chopped small
- 1 pound of celery chopped small
- 3 yellow onions
- 5 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon of beef bouillon (dissolved into cream)
- 3 tablespoons of corn starch (dissolved in water)
- 1 tablespoon of flour (dissolved in water)
- 1 stick of butter
- 2 teaspoons of garlic salt
- 2 teaspoons of onion powder
- thyme, to your liking (I used a few sprigs of fresh thyme from the garden)
- parsley, to your liking ( same as above )
Start with heating the slow cooker on low. I like to melt my butter first. Next I add the stew meat and seasonings/ salt so the meat can start absorbing. Then I boil my cream and melt the beef bouillon into it, (this way it is evenly distributed. I put the cream on top of the beef. Then I add my onions and garlic and mix those in to the slow cooker. Next my carrots, and then my celery. I walk away for the night (six hours).
C H I C K E N
F I L L I N G
- 2 cups of buttermilk
- 2 pounds of shredded chicken breast
- 1 pounds of garden carrots chopped small
- 1 pound of celery chopped small
- 3 yellow onions
- 5 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon of chicken bouillon (dissolved into buttermilk)
- 3 tablespoons of corn starch (dissolved in water)
- 1 tablespoon of flour (dissolved in water)
- 1 stick of butter
- 2 teaspoons of garlic salt
- 2 teaspoons of onion powder
- thyme, to your liking (I used a few sprigs of fresh thyme from the garden)
- parsley, to your liking ( same as above )
Much like the beef, I started by adding butter to a pre-warmed slow cooker. The night before, I prepped shredded chicken in a separate sauce pan. I boiled 2 cups of water with a tablespoon of bouillon, and boiled my chicken until it was cooked through, but no longer. Then I hand shredded it and left it in the stock to soak up flavor over night. I added the marinating chicken to the pot with the butter, along with my seasonings, onion and garlic. I added my buttermilk with chicken bouillon, carrots celery, set to low, and then stepped away for 6 or more hours while I went to work. I returned to simmering pot of goodness, added my flour and corn starch, and removed from heat to allow thickening.
Next was the crust... Preheat Oven to 375 degrees
At this point, I was debating if I should make hand pies with a cupcake mould, or make mason jar pot pies. I made one hand pie, and decided I would have to make twice as much dough to make enough pies, so I confirmed the mason jar. What's great about hand pies is you can freeze them for meals for the week. You can also freeze mason jars, you just have to let them defrost before you cook them so the glass doesn't break from temperature shock. In terms of pastry, I prefer to small batch, just to ensure quality, but I am sure you can triple the recipe. I had to do this three times to have enough dough for 24 mason jar pies.
C R U S T
- 1 & 1/4 cup of all purpose flower
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
-1/2 tablespoon of sea salt
- 5 tablespoons of buttermilk
-1 stick of salted butter divided into 1/2 inch pieces
I mixed the crust with a hand beater in a large bowl until it looked like a crumbly meal. Then I formed the dough into a disc, and rolled it out, turning it with each pass of the rolling pin. Using a common cereal bowl as a guide, a pressed out about 8 crust rounds per batch to drape over the mouth of the jars. (Full disclosure, you can probably get away with two batches, I had enough dough to bust our a 9in vegetarian quiche too). After everything was rolled out and cut, I began by filling each mason jar with two ice cream scoops of filling. I had enough for 12 chicken and 12 beef. It. was. perfect. Then I draped the dough over the mason jar mouth and enforced it around the sides, NOT THE TOP. ***If you enforce it around the top, it makes for a thin support and the tops will collapse in the oven. ***
After that, I salted and peppered the tops, I marked the beef pies with a thyme stitch. I baked them in the over for about 20 minutes until brown at 375, and only had to heat them in a small portable oven before the event. Buttering the crust with melted butter mid bake is optional, but it does make for beautiful color and flavor.
All of the pies were scrapped clean at the end of this even, and I enjoyed them as well. They are a hearty meal, portioned, and have enough nutritional value to feed your body. You can substitute the cream and buttermilk for nonfat, (though I wouldn't recommend it, and the butter for olive oil, (but probably have to add more cornstarch).
***If you are an on the go mom! I suggest using store-bought crust or freezer puff pastry. You can freeze these and pull a few out every day in the morning for dinner. *** Having beef and chicken mean you can alternate, so kids won't complain about having the same thing every night. They also go well with salads, mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables.
Personally, I paired these with a cucumber vinegar salad, my mom's famous 6 cup salad, Italian harvest cake, and quiche! It was all amazing! And very British, ( aside from the harvest cake). My clients loved it, and they were perfect on Carlos' step display which I usually use for fruit and dip.
Anyway, until next time, happy cooking!