There comes a time in every baker’s life where you are just sick of sweet. It doesn’t come often, but it happens. After that Valentine’s Day chocolate cake (and the extremely important post-Valentine’s Day half-price candy sale day), I was a bit sugared-out. That meant it was time to try my first savory bake of this series.
I found this amazing recipe from Bon Appetit for a Short Rib Pot Pie. I absolutely adore short ribs. They are so rich and luxurious. When I see them on a menu out at a restaurant, that’s usually what I end up getting. The very first time I cooked dinner for my husband, I made him short ribs over parmesan risotto. (That was for our first Valentine’s Day!) Short ribs are labor intensive, need to cook for forever, usually braised in red wine, and totally worth every second! The great thing about this recipe is that it is actually best to do most of the work the day before you’re going to serve it. When you can split the work over two days, it doesn’t feel like you’re cooking/baking forever.
Someone asked me recently whether I like cooking or baking better. The honest answer is that I feel much more comfortable cooking than baking, but the challenge of baking is more satisfying. Cooking comes naturally to me, and it’s very forgiving. Baking is precise and specific. Cooking is like poetry. Baking is hard science. This recipe allowed me a little personal creativity, and I fully embraced it. Below you’ll find my version of this recipe. Feel free to use my version or try the original version and make your own tweaks to the filling!
I have a confession. It’s been a really long time since I made a pie crust from scratch. It all comes down to the one ingredient not pictured here: the water. I have a great disdain for the water that comes out of our tap here in Florida. Growing up in Pennsylvania, we had fabulous tap water. When you bake often, you realize how important water quality really is. It can make or break your bake. Florida water has a weird taste, one that I don’t want anywhere near my baked goods. We religiously filter, but the water still seems sub par. In addition, the secret to perfect, flaky pie crust is keeping everything very, very cold. That can also be hard to accomplish in Florida, so I’ve used refrigerated pie crust for a while out of sheer convenience and sub par water.
I made this crust from scratch, and I’d forgotten how superior in every way homemade crust actually is. Sorry, guests of Thanksgiving Dinners past. I’ve cheated you out of truly good pies. I feel terrible.
This particular crust calls for half butter and half shortening. I’ve spent most of my life in the anti-shortening camp. It’s white and tasteless and kind of gross. If there is an “all-butter” option, I usually take it. This time, I just followed the recipe and used half and half. The original recipe claims that the half and half method gives you the best of both worlds: butter for flavor, and shortening for flakiness. It did not disappoint. This crust was extremely flaky. I may be a shortening convert.
The best tip I have for making a flaky crust is to work quickly and to keep everything cold. I keep a stick of butter in my freezer for strategic pastry purposes. I’ve even been known to measure out the flour and put that into the freezer for 10 minutes before starting. At the very least, chill your butter and shortening, and add an ice-cube or two to your water.
To make this crust quickly and easily, I used my food processor to cut the butter and shortening into the flour and salt until it resembled coarse crumbs. Then I transferred it to a bowl and added the water a little at a time, stirring with a fork, until the dough came together. That can be a tricky judgement call. You don’t want any patches of dry flour. I like to add 1/4-1/3 cup of the water at first and then go tablespoon by tablespoon until I get the right consistency. It won’t be the same every time. Once your fork fails you, go in with your hands, but be careful! The heat from your hands will immediately start to melt the fats, so work quickly! You’ve added enough water when there is no more dry flour, and the dough can be shaped into a ball but isn’t sticky. Wrap the ball in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours. The whole process takes 15 minutes, and you can do this up to 2 days before!
Most of your time will be spent on the filling. To make the most flavorful result with a slow braise like this, don’t skip any of the steps! It’s easy to just throw everything in the pot and let it sit, but you’re building flavor at the beginning. Once you put in the time at the beginning, you can just let it simmer while you binge watch Netflix. Ready for this week’s do as I say not as I did moment? Don’t start this at 9 pm unless you are totally prepared to be up until 2 am. The hands-on process only takes about an hour in the beginning, but with three hours of stove top simmering and time to cool enough to put it into the fridge overnight, you’re looking at about five hours. It’s not five hours of work, just five hours where you plan to be awake.
Start with a medium heavy bottomed pot. Avoid traditional non-stick, though the ceramic coating of my cast iron dutch oven worked perfectly.
First do-not-skip step: Sear the Meat! For this, you season the short ribs with salt and pepper, then coat them lightly with flour on all sides. Add oil to the pot, and brown in a single layer (I had to do two batches). It took about 8-10 minutes to get a nice brown on all sides. Why shouldn’t you skip it? Browning meat leaves the most flavorful bits on the bottom of the pot which is the basis for flavor, especially since this recipe uses no beef broth. The cooked flour will aid in thickening the broth you are building. I used the time the short ribs were browning to get the rest of the ingredients together, saving me some time. After all of your short ribs are good and browned, set aside.
Short ribs are very fatty, and while you’re browning the ribs, it will produce enough rendered fat for the next couple of steps, much like bacon does. Cook the shallots in the pot until they start to brown, then spoon them out of the pot and set aside.
Now that we’ve built the base of the flavor, and it’s time to build up the broth. Add garlic to the remainder of the fat. If you feel you need a bit more olive oil, add a bit, but you’ll probably have plenty of grease left. Cook the garlic for about 2 minutes until it softens slightly. Add the tomato paste. Stir this often, but allow it to have some contact with the bottom of the pan. You’re looking for the tomato paste to darken in color. It’s a bit hard to tell from the photo, but it will be a pretty distinct color change from when you add it to this stage. Expect it to take about 5-8 minutes.
I added balsamic vinegar at this point, allowed it to bubble and thicken again, then added the wine and herbs, scraping the remaining burned on bits from the bottom of the pot. Allow all of this to reduce a little, then add 6 cups of water. It seems like a lot. I also know you want to ignore me about the water and use beef broth instead. I urge you not to for one reason: this concoction is going to cook and reduce in a big way, so all that salt in the broth would reduce and leave you with an inedible, salty mess. Those short ribs deserve better. Reserve the right to season to your taste the next day. There is time for more salt and pepper. Don’t do it with reckless abandon. If you’ve properly seasoned the meat before you seared it, you’re fine. Use water. I promise I wouldn’t steer you wrong.
Here is your lovely broth (the photo is from before I added the water to it!) Add the browned ribs and any juices they’ve created while they rested back to the broth. The broth should cover the ribs completely at this point. Again, I know what you’re saying!! Shouldn’t I be cooking this in the oven like a traditional braise? Nope. You want to simmer this uncovered so the liquid reduces. You’re also going to be about two hours in and panic because it doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere close to coating the back of a spoon, which is the visual cue you’re going for at about the 2 1/2-3 hour mark. Just keep checking your pot every so often to make sure it’s not at a boil and adjust the ribs so the meatiest bits stay in contact with the broth.
Like some sort of short rib magic, the broth went from the this-is-never-going-to-reduce-enough-and-the-meat-isn’t-falling-apart-tender-and-it’s-midnight stage (that’s a technical term) to these lovely ribs in a dark, thickened broth right around 2 hours and 45 minutes. At that point, the meat was definitely ready to come off of the bone. Don’t panic if it isn’t all the way tender to the point of shredding. There is some cook time tomorrow too. You just want it to be close. Taste your broth at this point. Add some salt and pepper if you feel you need it. Be cautious. The flavor will continue to develop overnight and there is time to season tomorrow, too. You can’t un-add salt, so don’t get crazy.
To chill overnight, I separated the rib meat from the broth in different containers. I wanted it to be easy to skim the fat off of the top once it separated.
My apologies that the general idea of this photo is a little bit gross, but I wanted to show you why doing this the day before is beneficial. You absolutely could go right from the tender rib meat/reduced broth stage to the next step, but then you’re eating all that fat that rose to the top. My one and only criticism of short ribs is how greasy they can be, and your sauce just doesn’t need all of that. If you’re set on preparing and serving this all in one day, add 2 hours into your schedule to at least chill the broth to the point where you can skim off some of that fat.
Full disclosure, I made a full batch of short ribs, but only used about a pound of the cooked short ribs to continue this recipe. The dish I wanted to make this in (perfect for a two person lunch) was one quart, and the recipe is for a two-quart dish. I saved some short rib to eat over pasta or gnocchi later on. What that meant for me is that I only needed half of the pie crust as well, so it looks like I’m going to need to figure out what else to do with that in the next day or so as well. The recipe at the bottom will reflect the whole batch made in a 2 quart dish.
The next day, chop up whatever veggies you’d like in smallish pieces. I diced a few carrots and quartered some baby bella mushrooms. I cooked these in a little olive oil until they softened, then added the chilled broth (which will actually be pretty solid) sans the fat layer you’ve scraped off. Somewhere between chopping and cooking, pull your pie crust out of the fridge. It needs a couple of minutes to get to a point where you can roll it out without it cracking.
Let me ask you a question: did you drink the rest of that bottle of wine you used last night for the broth? I hope not! Add a little of this to thin the broth back down to a stew consistency. If you drank the rest of that wine, I respect your choices. You can use some beef broth at this point instead. Add the short ribs back in, add a little liquid, and heat gently until it’s warm. Taste, and season with some salt and pepper if it needs it.
Moment of truth: time to roll out the pie crust. It’s really only at this point where I truly know if I didn’t add enough water or added too much when I brought the dough together. Flour your surface, hands, and rolling-pin. Turn your crust over ever couple of rolls so it doesn’t stick to the surface. My dough was just riding that edge of almost too dry. The closer you get to that edge, the better. Making your own crust is a true adrenaline rush!! Ok, maybe that’s taking it a bit far, but you are taking risks for better rewards.
Remember when we talked about those lovely bits of butter and shortening that melt to create tender flakes if you can manage to pull the crust together fast enough? Well, look at that marbling! Oh baby!
Once you have it rolled out to a big enough size for your container and to about 1/8″ thickness, flour the top of the crust and roll it carefully around your rolling-pin. Load your filling into your baking dish, and unroll the pastry over the top.
Cut off the excess, leaving some overhang. Tuck the edges underneath, and crimp the edges. I used a fork to get that rustic look. You could be fancier with it if you like, but keep in mind that your filling is hot, and it’s softening the crust from the moment you drape it over the dish. Fork crimping is quick. Brush with some heavy cream, lightly sprinkle the top with salt, cut a few slits in the top of the crust, and get that bad boy to the oven ASAP!
Depending on the size of your dish, it will need to bake at 375F for 50-60 minutes for the 2 quart portion. If you’re making the smaller dish like I did, it took 35-40 minutes. If you want to make individual portions in ramekins, it may be even less. The filling is fully cooked, so I took my cue from color of the pastry. Nice and brown, but not burnt. If you notice the edges are getting too dark too fast, don’t hesitate to take the pie from the oven for a second and cover the edges with some foil to allow the center to bake.
The result? Luscious short ribs in a complex, rich sauce with a buttery, flaky crust. Sprinkle with a bit of parmesan, and this was a lunch fit for a king! Wait, this is a peasant dish. Lunch fit for the king of the peasants! That’s not right either–the king of the peasants is still just the king. You know what I’m going for, right? It’s good and you’re special.
Did you have any of that wine left over for a glass to drink with the pie? No? Me either. Note to self: next time, buy a second bottle!
Short Rib Pot Pie
Forget your chicken pot pie! Kick up your peasant dish game with this rich short rib pot pie, and eat like kings and queens! Prep time: 1 hour 30 min, Cook time: 4 hours, Total Time: 5 hours 30 min
Ingredients
- For the Crust:
- 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/2 cup (one stick) chilled, unsalted Butter cut into pieces
- 1/2 cup Vegetable Shortening
- For the Filling:
- 4 lb Bone-in Short Ribs
- 4 Tbsp Olive Oil (divided)
- 1/4 cup Flour
- 4 oz Shallot
- 4-5 Cloves Garlic
- 2 Tbsp Tomato paste
- 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
- 2 cups Red Wine
- 2 sprigs Rosemary
- 6 springs Thyme
- 6 cups Water
- 3 cups Veggies of choice (carrot, mushroom, celery all work well!)
- Salt & Pepper
- Heavy Cream or Milk, for brushing
Directions
- Step 1 Pulse flour and salt in a food processor. Add butter and shortening and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs
- Step 2 Transfer flour mixture to a large bowl and drizzle with ½ cup ice water. Mix with a fork until dough just comes together
- Step 3 Work dough lightly with your hands, adding more water by the tablespoonful if needed, until no dry spots remain (dough will be slightly shaggy but moist). Form into a disk and wrap tightly in plastic. Chill until firm, at least 2 hours
- Step 4 Season short ribs with kosher salt and pepper. Toss with 1/4 cup flour on a rimmed baking sheet. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Working in batches, shake excess flour from ribs and cook, turning occasionally, until deeply browned, 8–10 minutes per batch. Transfer to a large bowl
- Step 5 Add shallot to same pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a small container. Cool and refrigerate until day 2 (or set aside if making all in one day)
- Step 6 Reduce heat to medium, add garlic to pot, and cook, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring often, until slightly darkened in color, 5–8 minutes. Add Balsamic vinegar and stir, allowing to thicken slightly
- Step 7 Add wine, rosemary, and thyme sprigs, bring to a boil, and cook, scraping up browned bits, until liquid is reduced by half, 8–10 minutes. Add 6 cups water to pot and bring to a boil
- Step 8 Return short ribs to pot. Season with kosher salt and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer gently, uncovered, until short ribs are almost falling apart and liquid is thick enough to lightly coat a spoon, 2½–3 hours
- Step 9 (If chilling overnight for next day assembly) Remove short ribs from pot. Separate meat from bones (if necessary). Discard bones and cut short ribs into chunks. Cool and refrigerate. Reserve remaining liquid in a separate container, remove stems from herbs. Chill overnight.
- Step 10 Day 2: Preheat oven to 375F. Skim fat layer from the top of the sauce and discard
- Step 11 Heat 2 Tbsp oil over medium heat. Add diced veggies and cook until softened. Add skimmed sauce and dilute with wine or broth
- Step 12 Add short ribs and shallot to gently reheat. Stir to break meat apart. Add more wine or broth as necessary to reach stew consistency. Salt and Pepper to taste
- Step 13 Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/8” thick. Transfer filling to a shallow 2-qt. baking dish. Place over filling and trim, leaving overhang. Tuck edges under and crimp. Cut a few slits in crust. Brush with cream and sprinkle with sea salt
- Step 14 Place dish on a rimmed baking sheet and bake pot pie at 375F until filling is bubbling and crust is golden brown, 50–60 minutes (35–40 minutes for smaller dishes). Let sit 5–10 minutes before serving
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