Bibi’s Bites - Veal Pot Pie

by Bibi Ebel on February 26, 2023

I love pot pies. They are old fashioned, very traditional, and delicious. Made with lean meat, fresh veggies and flaky crust, a pot pie is a treat family dinner. So today we’ll be making a veal pot pie – a large family size pot pie and individually portioned mini pot pies. The best thing about this recipe is that you can use whatever veggies you have in the fridge (or freezer). Ingredients are interchangeable and optional – go with what you like.

Ingredients:

All of these ingredients can easily be found in any grocery store in Hungary

1 pound (1/2 kg) veal (borjú hus), cubed (to tell you the truth, you can use any meat whatsoever, the only thing that changes is the cooking time)
1 cup (100-150 gr) sliced carrots (sárgarépa)
1/2 cup (75 gr) onions chopped (hagyma)
1 cup (150 gr) frozen green peas (fagyasztott zöldborsó)
1 cup (150 gr) zucchini chopped (cukkini)
3 medium size potatoes peeled and cubed (burgonya)
1/2 cup (75 gr) sliced celery (angol zeller szál)
4 tablespoons (50-60 gr) butter (vaj)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper (fekete borsó)
1 teaspoon sweet paprika (édes piros paprika)
1/2 teaspoon rosemary fresh or dry (rozmaring)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (szerecsendió)
1 3/4 cups chicken broth (csirke alaplé)
1 package of puff pastry (leveles tészta, e.g. ‘Tante Fanny’)

White Sauce:
4 tablespoons (50-60 gr) butter (vaj)
1/4 cup (30 gr) all purpose flour (liszt)
2 cups (500 ml) milk (tej)

OR

1/3 cup (30 gr) cornstarch (kukorica keményítő)
2 cups (500 ml) milk (tej)

Brush with 1 egg

You will need a deep oven dish or large deep tray.

In a frying pan sear veal (cook at high temperature to lock up the juices) then reduce heat. Add carrots and half cup broth, sautée veal for 30 minutes (chicken for 15 minutes, beef for 45 minutes). Stir in paprika, nutmeg, and black pepper. In a saucepan cook onions and celery over medium heat in butter until onions are translucent. Add the potatoes, the rest of chicken broth and boil for 10 minutes until potatoes are tender but not soft. Now it’s time to preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C, Gas Mark 7) and make the sauce.

A lot of recipes call for cream of chicken or mushroom soup for the sauce, but I refuse to use either and so, I make my own. To make creamy white sauce melt 4 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, then add 1/4 cup flour. The trick here is to whisk, whisk, whisk until the mixture begins to turn golden, about 2 minutes. Then in goes the milk and continue whisking until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; let cool slightly.

The other way to make pot pie white sauce is to mix ¼ cup cornstarch in warm milk.

Place veal and veggies in a deep enough oven dish, pour white sauce over to cover 2/3 of the filling. Cover with puff pastry, make a hole to allow steam to escape, brush with egg and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until the pastry is golden. Cool down 10-15 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

If you wish to make fancy, individual-sized pot pies, you will need to use a muffin baking tray and bake them for 20-25 minutes in the oven. Remove from the oven and let cool down for 15 minutes before carefully taking the pot pies out of the tray. Egészségedre!

 

 

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I am Bibi Ebel, Kazakh by birth, living in Canada with my wonderful husband and two adorable daughters Hannah (3 years) and Lara (7 months). We moved to Budapest in August 2011 and love-love-love it here. My attitude to life is like my attitude to our house: must be clean enough to be healthy and messy enough to be happy.

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