December 2009: The Jackal and I have guests over for Christmas eve dinner. That meal features braised lamb shanks slow-cooked with red wine in a French enamel pot -- several shanks. So many, in fact, I have at least three pounds of leftover meat and bones to put in the freezer.
February 2010: Those holiday leftovers are resurrected for Irish Stew. And it is dee-lish, but so rich we can eat but a few bowlfuls. Now, instead of a bag of meat and bones taking up space in my freezer, there's a giant Tupperware container of stew!
July 2010: a flash of inspiration whilst showering. Why not pour that stew into a pie crust and top it with some filo dough? Aside from adding a little Wondra flour to thicken the broth and a 1/2 cup of frozen peas for flavor, that's all I did. And the base crust was the kind you can get in any grocer's freezer section.
Huzzah!
There was enough leftover stew for two pies, but I only baked one of them for Jax and I. The other went into the freezer (for those keeping score at home, that's the third trip to the freezer for a holiday lamb iteration). Then just this weekend, I pulled out the other pie and baked it for myself and my pal, Rappin Stuey-Stu, who had come over to listen to records whilst the Jackal was back in Taxachussets with her sis.
Might I say, the second pie was just as smack-your-mama good as the first? If you don't believe me, just as Stu.
Indeed, it was good! Hard to believe that lamb had been in the freezer for 6 months. I never would have guessed.
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