Steak, Bacon and Portobello Pie

Today we feature this "Winter Warmer" menu. Savory meat pies are a great fall and winter dinner especially when served with roasted vegetables. Two favorite recipes for those side dishes follow this one.

Start by making your pastry

1 cup very cold butter cut into small cubes
2 ½ cups flour
½ tsp salt
1/3 – ½ cup ice water (Only enough to make a dough form.)

Using a food processor or a pastry blender cut cold butter into flour and salt until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Small pieces of butter should still be visible. Pour cold water over the mixture and work in by tossing with a fork until dough begins to form. Use your hands as little as possible and work the dough as little as possible.

Divide dough into 2 balls, flatten into 2 rounds, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to rest for a minimum of 20 minutes.
You can make your dough the previous day but make sure you take it out of the fridge for 10 minutes to warm slightly before rolling out.

Roll the dough into a 12 inch round and place in the bottom of a 10 inch pie plate. Don’t trim the dough at this point. It is better to trim the excess after blind baking it. You will need to blind bake this bottom crust before adding the filling. Blind baking is essential so that the bottom crust will not get soggy.

To blind bake a crust simply place a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil over the dough and cover the bottom of the pie plate with baking weights. (Marbles, dry beans, peas, rice or barley work just as well as anything else.) Bake at 400 degrees for about 12 -15 minutes. Remove baking weights and parchment (or foil).

For the filling:
1 ½ pounds steak, cubed
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small red or white onion chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
2 cups condensed unsalted beef stock
½ pound smoked bacon
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 cups chopped Portobello mushrooms
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cracked black pepper
Salt to season (if necessary)
4-6 tbsp flour shaken into ¾ cup cold water ( for thickening the gravy)

Method:
Begin by browning your onions over medium heat in 3 tbsp oil. Add minced garlic and sauté for an additional minute. Remove onions and garlic, leaving the oil in the pan. Increase heat to medium high and when the pan is very hot add cubed steak. Brown the beef well. Return the onions and garlic to the pan along with the thyme, nutmeg, pepper and the beef stock.

Chop bacon into small pieces and fry over medium heat until crispy and all the fat is rendered out. Remove the bacon from the pan and discard the fat. Deglaze the pan with the red wine and add this to the beef stock along with the rendered bacon. Simmer over low heat for half an hour.

Add salt to season at this point. The bacon may have provided sufficient salt so be careful not to add too much. Add Portobello mushrooms and simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Finally, slowly add the flour and water mixture stirring constantly to make a thick gravy.

Spoon the filling into the blind baked pie shell, top with the second round of pastry, tucking the edges under the bottom crust. Brush the top crust with an egg wash of
1 egg and 2 tbsp water whisked together.

Bake the pie at 425 degrees for about 45 minutes or until the top crust is a deep golden brown. Allow pie to stand for 20 minutes to a half hour before cutting and serving.