Rafter H BBQ
, Justin was super generous and sent me some elk last week, so I had to put his harvest to good use! Gloomy chill here and we couldn’t decide between pot pie or Shepards pie, so we went with a hybrid using the ground elk as the protein! Unfortunately I was low on potatoes so the top layer was a bit thin.The filling:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion
- 1 lb Ground Elk, 15% fat so I didn’t add any. You can use any ground meat. I’ll use beef next time since I don’t harvest elk and don’t want to break Justin’s bank
- 2 tblspn parsley minced
- 1 tblspn rosemary minced
- 1 tblspn thyme
- salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- A few dried porcini mushroom
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 garlic cloves -minced
- Arrow root slurry ~2 tblspn
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 1/2 cup diced carrot
- 1/2 cup peas (I used chopped string beans)
- 1/2 cup fresh celery
- 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels
While this is happening, get ready for gravy….I like using “Better than bullion” if I’m not doing my own stock, using a tip by Jeff, I use 1.5 teaspoons of better than bullion per cup of water. Bring to simmer, add Worcestershire and dried shrooms. Bring to boil, reduce and stir occasionally while on low simmer.
At same time add carrots to the pan after beef is done & broth is going, cook carrots about 5 min or so, then add celery, green beans or peas, and the corn. Keep stirring and.cooking to fragrance and a bit of char. Then remove to bowl with beef and mix it all.
If needed add bit more butter to same pan on low medium. Add the parsley, rosemary, thyme, and salt. Stir well. Cook for a few minutes to bloom, until fragrant, turn up heat to high medium. Add wine and deglaze. Reduce wine by 1/2. Add meat and veggie mixture stirring.
Slowly pour arrow root slurry to broth mixture until consistency you want. Then remove shrooms, dice and add to meat, then mix.
Add tomato paste to meat in hot pan. Stir until well incorporated and no clumps of tomato paste remain and paste is caramelized..
Add the broth/gravy to meat mixture slowly. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Set the meat mixture aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
The herb mashed potatoes I did ahead of time. Let me know if you want recipe.
Press pie crust in pan. Filled with elk pie filling, topped with mashed potatoes.
Into oven 15-20 minutes. Let cool and plate, then eat!
Thank you for your time! Absolutely incredible meal! I had leftovers for breakfast. I grew up on white tail, never trying elk and this was awesome. Couldn’t wait to try the back-strap! Thank you Justin! Trying to make sure we honor your elk and the effort to harvest! More to come
