Handmade by Hoffy: Beef Tip Pot Pies (from leftovers)

A few weeks ago I wrote a post on "No Peak Beef Tips". At that time I had said that with the leftovers I was going to make one of our favorite dinners..."pot pies". I finally got around to putting this post together.

If you missed the post on No Peak Beef Tips, you can just click on the picture below and you will be redirected to that post.

No Peak Beef Tips...read more

We loved the beef tips and there was enough left over for another meal. My husband isn't a big fan of eating the same dinner two nights in a row. So, I have to reinvent the recipe to make it appear that it's something else. I'm sure many gals out there have the same issue. The guys eat something once and they love it, but they don't want a repeat...at least not in the same week.

So, I chose to make "Beef Tip Pot Pies" to kind of disguise the original dish. If you don't want to use them right away, they freeze well. I purchased the aluminum containers at the Dollar Tree. They don't have a really small size, so one pot pie in these containers can actually feed two people. I made two out of my leftovers. I should have frozen one of them, but decided we would both have a really good portion this time. But next time, one of them will be frozen.

Let's Make Beef Tip Pot Pies...

Pot pies are so easy to make and when you have some great leftovers the pies turn out delicious. In this case, I had the left over beef tips and then added frozen peas and carrots and semi cooked cubed potatoes. There was some gravy leftover from the tips, but I also added a package of brown gravy mix already prepared to the mixture. You can't have enough gravy, right? I mixed everything together and made the package of the brown gravy to put on the top of the pies before I covered them with crust. Below are the step by step crust making for the post pies. I love pie crust and with beef tips, veggies, potatoes and gravy, you just can't go wrong.

Now It's Time To Make That Pie Crust...

Making pie crusts are super easy. You will need flour, sugar, salt, butter, shortening, water and vodka (opt). This recipe makes two crusts for a regular pie. Because I used smaller containers, I was able to make 2 tops and 2 bottoms for the pot pies out of one recipe.

After making and dividing your pie crust dough and have let it rest in the refrigerator for one hour. remove one disk from the refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll pie crust to about an 1/8"-1/4" thickness. Place the pot pie container on top and cut a little larger than the container.

Trim the bottom pie crust and fill with your beef tip mixture. At this point I added the extra gravy on top.

Roll out the remaining pie crust from the first disk and place on the top of the pot pie. Pinch dough all the way around the container. Repeat for the second pot pie. Dock the top pie crust with either a knife or a fork, so steam can be released.

Bake at 400℉ for around 40-45 minutes. If the top starts getting to brown around the edges too fast, lay a sheet of aluminum foil over the top of both of them. Do not crimp aluminum foil, just place it on the crust. This will slow down the browning process. Although the bottom of the crust did not get really brown, it was still crunchy rather than doughy. I did place the pies back in the over for an extra 10 minutes just to make sure the crust was done.

And here they are...the beef tips made these pot pies delicious...and my husband didn't even notice that we had had this dinner a few days before...sometimes you have to be a little sneaky! LOL!

Beef Tip Pot Pies (from leftovers) Recipe...

Ingredients:

beef tips leftover from the "No Peak Beef Tips" recipe
1 cup cooked or frozen carrots and peas (depending on how much leftovers you have)
1 cup cubed potatoes (cooked)
1 pkg. brown gravy mix

Directions:

These directions are pretty easy. Mix the tips, potatoes, carrots and peas all together with the remaining gravy from the beef tips.
Cook the package of gravy mix.
Mix everything together and set aside.

Pie Crust Recipe...

Ingredients for Pie Crust: (this recipe will make enough pie crust for two covered pot pies)

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar (I used 1 tablespoon, as this is going to be a savory pie, not a sweet pie)
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup butter (cold)
1/2 cup shortening (cold)
1/4 cup ice water
1/4 cup vodka (chilled) - this is not necessary, but it does add flavor to the crust. If you choose not to use it, increase your ice water to about 1/2 cup.

Directions for Pie Crust:

In a large bowl or food processor, stir together flour, sugar and salt.
Cut the cold butter and cold shortening into small cubes and add to the flour mixture. (I prefer to use a food processor).
Pulse the flour mixture with the butter and shortening until it kind of holds together. (it appears more sandy than like flour alone)
Mix cold water and chilled vodka together.
Slowly pour into the flour mixture a little at a time. (Depending on the humidity, you may use less than 1/2 cup. Check after pulsing a few times. If the flour mixture holds together when squeezed it's done. Do not overwork as your pie crust will become tough.
Dump the crust mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap and press together to make a ball.
Divide the dough into 2 pieces and press down to form 2 disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and store in refrigerator for about an hour.
Remove one disk from refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface and with your rolling pin, roll to about an 1/8"-1/4" thickness. (I like my pie crust a little thicker because this crust is so good and flaky. There's nothing better than a great crust.)
Bake at 400℉ for 40-45 minutes. If the crust browns too fast, lay a piece of aluminum foil on top of the crust. This will slow down the browning process.

Thank you to the Stay at Home Chef for this great pie crust recipe. I use two different pie crust recipes. Each are equally delicious. The other recipe is for a one crust pie which I use when I make French Silk Pie. You can access the single pie shell recipe here. You can also access the French Silk Pie recipe here.

One Final Thought...

Who doesn't love comfort food? Pot pies are comfort food at its best. If you have the opportunity to try first the "No Peak Beef Tips" and then with leftovers, the "Beef Tip Pot Pies". Both are truly great recipes and so, so very easy!