Individual Portions: Part 1

Would you like to try a different kind of pot pie than your traditional chicken pot pie? Yes? Well, then you need to try this pot pie!

Italian Potpies

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pound beef sirloin, thawed if frozen
2 cups homemade or best quality store-bought tomato sauce (the recipe I used is below)
1 cup all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (1 ounce)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed dried rosemary
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup whole milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees, with rack in lowest position. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium. Add onions and carrots; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Add beef, and cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, 3 to 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until meat mixture has thickened, 8 to 10 minutes; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, Parmesan, baking powder, rosemary, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; make well in center, and add butter and milk. Stir just until dough comes together.

Spoon meat mixture into four 8-ounce ramekins; mound dough on top. Place on a large rimmed baking sheet; bake until topping is golden brown, and toothpick inserted in topping comes out clean, 10 to 12 minutes.

Source: Everyday Food, December 2008. You can find the recipe here.

Notes: The only change I made to this recipe is that I didn't have 8-ounce ramekins. I only had 6-ounce ramekins and 4-ounce ramekins. So, I used four 6-ounce ramekins and two 4-ounce ramekins. So, I got four larger servings and two kid-sized servings.

The only change I would make in the future is to line my pan with foil to make for easier clean up.

My boys were being super fussy about eating this. I thought they would be really excited about the fact that they got their very own serving/portion in a little dish. It was like pulling teeth to get them to take a bite. Once they did, of course, they really liked it. It was just one of those nights!

These were super delicious and they made great leftovers too.

 

Above: Seriously, why would my boys have been weird about eating this? Yum!

Three-Ingredient Marinara (with one more ingredient that I added)

Ingredients:

1 can (28 ounces) whole peeled tomatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

Salt and pepper

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (my addition)

Directions:

In a food processor or blender, puree tomatoes until smooth. In a straight-sided skillet or small pan, heat oil over medium. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add pureed tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened, about 15 minutes.

Source: Everyday Food, March 2013. You can find it here.

Notes: As mentioned above, the only change I made was to add some Italian seasoning since they were Italian pot pies, I wanted some Italian flavor (that flavor would have been evident in a bottled marinara sauce already). This was so quick and easy to make. I let mine simmer while the vegetables and beef were cooking. By the time they were done cooking, the sauce was ready and I simply mixed the two together.