Another foray into making gourmet type things.

Filling:

1 lb. Flank steak
Olive oil.
Carrots
Celery
Mushrooms
Radishes
Herbs (I used basil and tarragon as the mother has lots of those in her garden).
2 12 oz bottles of ale (I went with Blue Moon's Rounder)

Brown the steak lightly in a skillet with a bit of olive oil. Chop veggies into small chunks. After the steak is browned chop into large chunks. Put everything into a crock pot. Add a bottle of ale to this. Deglaze the skillet with the other bottle of ale to get all the brown bits off the pan and add that to the dish. Toss your seasonings in as well. Cook this all day. (If you don't have a crock pot, toss it in a regular pot in the oven on low heat.)

Kill the heat about 1/2 an hour prior to filling your pasties to let everything rest.


Pastry: From Mr. Alton Brown's pocket pies: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/.....es-recipe.html Follow that recipe. (I think the egg wash is a bit unnecessary. I forgot it on a few, and I couldn't tell the difference after frying).

Drain off the liquid from the filling (save it though, you can drizzle it over the stuff or make a gravy from it. I intend to do so next time I experiment with these.) Fill your pasties, fold them up, then pan fry them. They only a take about a minute a side.

Mashed Potatoes:

5 Yukon gold potatoes.
Stick of butter.
about 1/4 cup of milk (give or take).
teaspoon of minced garlic. (I used store-bought minced garlic)

Peel the potatoes, cut them into large, even chunks. Boil them until they are just soft. Mash em' up with the butter, milk, and garlic.

Serving:

I mounded the potatoes in the center and arranged four pasties about in a circle, as shown. Drizzled some of the liquid over it and tossed some green stuff on.

Makes about 4 servings this way.