How to Turn Your Stew into a Pot Pie

You can do this with your beef and beer stew once it’s ready, or you can do it with the leftovers. If you decide to make the whole stew into one pie – which is an amazing presentation – you’ll need a casserole dish that holds 8-10 cups. If you want to make individual pies, it makes sense to have your meat and vegetables in smaller pieces – which is quite easy to do once the stew is cold. I like to use a single top crust, but with another roll of dough, you could make a double-crust.

It’s likely that you’ll have leftover pastry dough. Use it to make simple turnovers filled with jam. There are tons of ways to shape the dough, many of which are as simple as folding it over the jam. Brush the turnovers with egg wash, sprinkle them generously with sugar, place them on a Silpat-lined cookie sheet (because the jam will likely leak, creating a sticky mess), and bake them in the oven along with the pot pies. As soon as they’ve turned golden brown, they’re done – this will be well before the pies are done. Let them cool on a wire rack as the pies finish, dust them with powdered sugar, and serve them for dessert.

Ingredients:

1 roll of puff pastry
1 egg yolk mixed with 1 Tbs of water

Directions:

1. If the stew is warm, allow it to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 375°F.
3. Pour stew into one large or several small casserole dishes, filling the dish(es) fairly close to the brim. If the stew was refrigerated (leftover), splash it with a little bit of water.
4. Roll the dough a bit on a lightly floured surface, just enough to even out the creases, and cut it to cover your casserole. Cover casserole, crimping or decorating as much or as little as you want. Brush the dough with the egg wash. Cut one or more steam vents.
5. Bake for 20 minutes (30 minutes if the stew was refrigerated).

Beef and Beer Stew with Puff Pastry

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