Not Your Regular Beef Pot Pie ~ This One's Got a Biscuit Topping!

Usually when you think of beef pot pie, you think of a flaky pie crust. Right? Well, though I do make pie crust at home, I actually don’t enjoy making it. I’m just not a pie kind of gal.

Disclosure – This post is written in partnership with Canadian Beef. All thoughts and opinions on this blog are honest and my own. Proud to be a Canadian Beef Advocate.

This recipe came about because I didn’t feel like making pie dough one day, but the people in this household wanted beef pot pie. I substituted the pie crust for a biscuit recipe, and it turned out really well! I made a simple biscuit dough and added chopped up cheddar cheese and some chopped chives. I make these biscuits with dill sometimes.

Not Your Regular Beef Pot Pie

A hearty meal for a crisp Fall or Winter evening. Packed with flavour, this dish is a family favourite.

Author: Christine McNaughton

Recipe type: Main

Serves: 6

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 1 hour 20 mins

Total time: 1 hour 50 mins

Ingredients

Biscuit topping:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup (4 tablespoons) butter
2 tablespoons dill
1 cup (4 ounces) cheddar cheese or marble, grated
½ cup plain yogurt or sour cream
⅓ cup milk
Beef filling:
2 lbs chuck roast cut into bite-sized pieces, or 2 lbs of stewing beef
¼ c all purpose flour
Sea salt & freshly ground pepper (to taste)
2 Tbsp butter or vegetable oil
½ c stout * see notes *
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 stalks celery, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 c frozen peas
1 bay leaf
1 tsp oregano

Instructions

Make the biscuit dough:In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
Mix in butter until mixture resembles coarse sand. Mix in dill and grated cheese.
Gradually pour in sour cream (or plain yogurt) and milk, mixing until just combined.
Turn out dough on lightly floured surface and bring together until it forms a ball.
If you NEED to knead the dough to bring it together, do so but NOT more than 10 times.
Flatten the dough ball to roughly an 1-inch thick round
Make the filling:Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Toss the beef, flour, 1¼ teaspoons sea salt, and pepper to taste in a large bowl. Melt the butter (or add oil) in a Dutch oven or large ovenproof pot over medium heat. Add the beef and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned. This takes about 5 to 7 minutes.
Add the beer and 2 cups water, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Bring to a simmer, then cover, transfer to the oven and braise.
Add the bay leaf, oregano, onions, carrots and celery to the pot and continue braising for 30 min to 40 min.
Add peas. Add filling to a pie dish or baking dish. Add biscuit dough on top. You can either drop biscuit dough by the spoonful or lay it on top as one piece. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Notes

* For the beer * I like supporting local so I use either Split Rail Brewing Co.'s Loonsong Oat Stout or another option is Manitoulin Brewing Company's Porter of Prov. It's not a stout, but the dark, full-bodied porter balances nicely with the coffee and chocolate notes.

https://splitrailmanitoulin.com/beverages/loon-song-oat-stout-bottlehttps://www.manitoulinbrewing.co/shop/beer/porter-of-prov/

One of the most satisfying things about this recipe is that most of the ingredients are sourced locally. The beef is from our farm, the onions, peas and carrots are from our farm, and the beer is from a local brewery.