Cottage Pot Pie

Steps

1. To make the dough, add flour and very cold cubed butter to a food processor.
2. Pulse flour and butter until butter is evenly cut into flour. (A million tiny pieces)
3. Add in cold water a little at a time. Pulsing between each addition.
4. Remove dough from food processor and need with hands until it forms a roughly cohesive dough. (It will be really crumbly, that's good as long as it all sticks together) Try to knead the dough with your hands as little as possible.
5. Form the dough into a ball, and place in the fridge in a plastic bag or in cling wrap to rest for at least 30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 425
7. While the dough is resting prep your filling ingredients by dicing your onions, carrots, and celery, mincing your garlic, And peeling and quartering your potatoes. Put those potatoes in a pot with cold salted water to hold until we boil them.
8. Next get out your dough and roll it out about 1/8 inch thick. Cut enough to lay along the bottom and over the sides of a 9x13 pan (cut a little bigger than the pan to account for shrinkage) (be sure to leave enough dough to cut into strips for our pie topper!)
9. Cover with parchment paper and weigh down the crust with pie weights, beans, or lots of rice on top.
10. Bake until the edges have hardened, then remove the paper and weights and bake until the dough is a golden brown. (Set the pan aside for now and lower oven to 375)
11. To make the filling start by browning your ground beef on medium high heat in a deep Dutch oven or pot (preferably cast iron). Don't forget to let that pan preheat for maximum sear on our ground beef.
12. Once the beef is cooked, remove from the pot, leaving the fat in the pot.
13. Let the pot get back up to temperature, then add in your diced onions, carrots and celery. (Be sure to use a wooden spoon or spatula to scrape up any of the browned bits in the pan while those vegetables sweat down the beef fat)
14. While the vegetables are sweating down fill a large pot with cold water and add your potatoes with A generous smattering of salt.
15. Put that pot on the stove and set the potatoes to boil, we'll check them periodically taking them off the heat once they become fork tender.
16. Once your vegetables have sweat down and are mostly soft. Throw in your minced garlic. Cook just until the garlic is fragrant then throw in your tomato paste and stir a bit. (The he tomato paste will start to stick to the bottom, that's good!)
17. Add about 1/2 cup of your stock and use a wooden spoon or spatula to scrape the brown bits off the bottom of your pan (as much as possible)
18. Add in your 4 heaping tbsp of flour and stir. The mixture should get a bit thick as the flour cooks down for about 3-5 minutes
19. Lower the heat to a simmer and add in the rest of your stock and stir. Simmer for about 5 minutes or until it thickens up to your desired consistency.
20. While our mixture simmers check your potatoes, once they are fork tender strain and let sit in the colander to steam and remove excess moisture.
21. Add butter, and cream to a large bowl and use a potato ricer to rice the potatoes into the bowl and mix well. (A masher is fine too but they won't be quite as smooth) Mix as you add to check for desired consistency.
22. (bonus, take a few spoonfuls of the beef gravy in our filling and add to the potatoes for a savory flavor boost!)
23. To assemble, start by adding a thin layer of your mashed potatoes to the bottom of the crust (this protects the pastry from some of that moisture)
24. Next scoop all your filling into your crust, followed by you potato and smooth out with a spoon or spatula.
25. Finally, cur your remaining pie dough into roughly 3/4 inch strips and lay across your pie in a hatchet pattern using a fork to crimp the edges against the pie walls.
26. Brush on an egg wash and grate some of your favorite hard cheese over the whole thing (I used pecorino, parmesano reggiono, and aged cheddar)
27. Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes or until a nice golden brown
28. Let cool for 15-20 minutes, slice and serve.