Old Homestead Pie

The inspiration for this recipe came from “The Prairie Homestead Cookbook” by Jill Winger. It’s a wonderful recipe to turn to if you need to clean out your fridge or freezer. I adapted the original recipe to use what we had on hand. I’m doing my best to clear out all of my canned tomatoes and freezer meat from last season to make room for more in the coming months. This was such a tasty dinner and the buttermilk biscuits that baked on top of the pie sealed the deal. I used my soaked buttermilk biscuits method as I love the texture and added benefits of soaking the flour, but if you forget to soak your gains the evening before just proceed with the recipe without soaking.  I also really loved how easy this was to pull together and as a family we loved eating this on a random grey and rainy night. It hasn’t rained much this spring and the first dreary evening called for a cozy meal that also helped clear out the freezer! I hope you all enjoy this as much as we did. If you’re looking for a little comfort food that’s equal parts nourishing and delicious than this is the meal for you and your family!

Ingredients:

Buttermilk Biscuits

•     2 1/2 cups whole spelt flour (for a lighter biscuit you can substitute with half all purpose flour)
•     1 cup buttermilk
•     1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into a large dice
•     1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
•     1 teaspoon fine sea salt

Filling

•     1 pond ground beef, lamb or bison
•     1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
•     3 cloves of garlic, minced
•     1 teaspoon fine sea salt
•     2 teaspoons dried thyme
•     1 teaspoon dried oregano
•     1 teaspoon dried parsley
•     1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
•     a few grinds of freshly cracked pepper
•     1 1/2 cups canned tomatoes, with their juices
•     1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
•     2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. For the biscuits. Mix the flour with the buttermilk to form a thick dough. Cover and leave in a warm spot in your kitchen for 12-24 hours. (If you don’t want to soak your flour you can omit this step)
2. Preheat the oven to 350F.
3. In a large cast iron pan, brown the ground beef over medium high heat. Add the onion, garlic, salt, dried herbs, pepper flakes and black pepper. Cook until the onion begins to soften and the mixture is fragrant, about 6 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes with their juices and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
4. While the mixture simmers make the biscuits. Add the soaked dough to the bowl of a food processor along with the butter, baking soda and salt. Process until the dough is thick and comes together. (You can also knead by hand, but I find the processor is nice for this).
5. Roll the dough out on a generously floured work surface about 3/4 inch thick. Use a glass or biscuit cutter to cut the biscuits.
6. Sprinkle the cheese and parsley over the beef, then arrange the biscuits on top. Bake for 25 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown.