My son has a great group of friends and at least once a week (or so) they come for dinner. Most of them are transplants to Nashville and miss the family dinner table. Knowing that, I set the table and we really eat a family meal aka: no lounging in front of the TV. These guys are good eaters and I’ve found that for a family style dinner, a big casserole, lots of veggies, and a yummy dessert is the way to go. If it was a bunch of girls coming to dinner instead: a) Richard would be REALLY happy, and b) I would do girl food –but - as fate would have it - I usually end up with 5 or 6 big guys to feed.
Trying to come up with a new idea, I remembered a delicious casserole I made when my sister and I took her sons, their friends, and an exchange student, Seb the Australian, to the mountains for a weekend. I was just so charmed by Seb the Australian, and no, I don’t quite know why we called him that. There aren’t a lot of people named Seb running around Nashville, although there do seem to be a fair amount of Australians who are either on the show Nashville, or are already stars.
I got to spend a fair bit of time with Seb the Australian, and of course we talked about the food he liked. Good coffee is apparently an Aussie tradition and I took him to Frothy Monkey, which he found met his high standards. He missed mangos, I took him to Kroger, but he said they are the wrong color here. The other thing our Australian wanted to do was go to a Wal-Mart. He couldn’t believe we have stores that sell guns and groceries.
I made this casserole for him from what he described as a favorite dish. He loved it and so did the rest of the guys on the trip to the mountains. It’s been tweaked a few times, no canned soup, more potatoes, but the cheese biscuits on the top steal the show. I made this for my son and his friends thinking it would feed about 12 people, but I promise that casserole dish was so clean by the end of dinner it could have skipped the dishwasher! (No, seriously I wouldn’t actually do that) This recipe was voted a favorite by everybody and will be a regular for my guys. Thank you Seb the Australian, come visit anytime.
Cheddar Biscuit and Beef Pot Pie
Ingredients
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
½ onion, chopped
1 cup sliced carrots
2 Tbps butter
1 Tbsp fresh thyme (or tsp dried)
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary (or dried)
1 Tbsp fresh parsley (or tsp dried, or omit)
2 lb ground beef
Salt and pepper to taste
3 Tbsp flour
2 cups milk
1 cup beef or chicken broth
2 Tbsp Sherry (optional)
1 cup frozen green peas
For Biscuits
2½ cups self-rising flour
1 stick cold butter cut in cubes
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup buttermilk (more if needed)
Directions
Melt 2 Tbsp butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat.
Add potatoes, onion, and carrots and sauté until softened, about 8 minutes.
Stir in thyme, rosemary, and parsley and transfer to a bowl.
In the same pot, cook ground beef over medium high heat, breaking into pieces until browned. (remove any accumulating liquid as the beef cooks)
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Return vegetables to the pot with the beef and stir in 3 Tbsp flour.
Cook 2 minutes stirring constantly.
Add milk and broth and cook to thicken sauce, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally
Add sherry if using and green peas.
Taste for salt and pepper.
Put meat mixture in a 9 x 13 or similar size casserole, deep enough to hold meat and biscuits.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Make Biscuits: I use my food processor, but it is quite easy to do this by hand in a bowl.
Blend flour, butter, and cheese to combine.
Add buttermilk and mix to form dough.
Roll out dough and cut into biscuits, re-rolling leftover pieces.
Place on casserole, pushing into the sauce.
Bake for 30 minutes until casserole is bubbly and biscuits are browned. (If biscuits are browning too quickly, place a piece of aluminum foil lightly over the casserole.)
