I don’t know what possessed me, but last night I was in a cooking mood. Maybe it was the cool, crisp air of autumn or the eminent presence of winter. Whatever inspired my spontaneous cooking spree, the end result was tasty. I made a beef pot pie.

There was leftover beef lunch meat in the fridge (from Costco),  a lone potato and carrot and half of an onion. That’s all I needed to get started. I shredded an almost expired zucchini and threw it in for good measure.

The only other critical ingredients was broth (I used vegetable broth), red wine and seasonings. There is certainly no shortage of red wine in our house and what I didn’t have in broth, I made up the difference in wine.

Ingredients for Filling

• 10 ounces of thinly slice beef, cubed
• 2 T vegetable or olive oil
• 1 potato, cubed
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 1 small medium zucchini, shredded
• 1 small onion, minced
• 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 2 cups red wine
• 1 cup vegetable broth, low sodium
• 1 T dried parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2-3 T cornstarch

Pour off the olive oil into a deep skillet or soup pot. Add the onion, diced veggies and seasonings. Sauté for about 5 minutes over medium heat.

Add the remaining ingredients and simmer covered over low heat for 20 minutes.

As the filling is simmering on the stove, prepare the pie crust as follows:

•  2 cups white flour
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 3/4 to 1 cup ice water

In a large mixing bowl cut the butter into the flour. Add the salt and baking soda. Gradually incorporate the ice water and form dough into a ball. Sprinkle with flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to your hands.

Roll out the dough onto a clean surface generously dusted with flour. Reserve enough dough to cover the top of the pie pan.

Place a layer of dough into a pie pan. Pierce the dough with the prongs of a fork. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 12 minutes.

Remove the pie crust from the oven and fill with the beef filling. Roll out the remaining dough and cover the top. Using a knife, place slits in the top of the dough.

Bake beef pie at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. If you want the crust to brown, brush with an egg white.

Remove from oven and let cool. I suggest covering the pie with Saran or aluminum wrap and allow to set in fridge overnight before cutting.

Cut pie into eight slices and serve with beef gravy.

I can’t begin to count the number of friends and family member that shy away from cooking lamb. Leg of lamb is one of the easiest and tastiest meats you can cook. The secret is to trim away all the fat and cube into bite size pieces. At least that’s how we like to serve it at our house.

Lamb has a light gamey taste that is not overpowering. Don’t get this dish confused with the fast food gyro sandwiches you may have tasted. This dish can’t be compared to the often dry, sometimes grizzly lamb you may have experienced at a take-out place.

This dish is easy-peasy and will knock the socks off dinner guests who have never enjoyed lamb.

Ingredients:

• 1 leg of lamb (about 5-6 pounds; trim away fat and cut into cubes (Costco has great lamb)
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon dry garden mint
• 1 teaspoon dry rosemary
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ cup white wine
• 4 cups beef broth consommé
• Salt and pepper to taste

Mix spices and herbs into the flour. Toss cubed lamb in flour mixture and pan sear in olive oil until browned. Remove meat from pan. Add onion and cook until softened. Deglaze the pan with the white wine.  Add the beef consommé. Mix well and then return meat to pan. Simmer covered for one hour.

Remove from heat and serve over white rice. Generously serves 8-10 people.