Creamy Pork Pot Pie

The Belle, here (aka Missy Tippens). I made something the other day that turned out really tasty! And I made it in a pinch.

You see, I had laid out a pork tenderloin, planning to make my regular, go-to Harriet's Pork tenderloin recipe using apricot jam and brown gravy (click here for recipe I've shared before).

But my tenderloin didn't thaw out enough. So I figured I could make something that used cubed meat--and the slightly frozen tenderloin would make it easier to slice. It just so happened, I had seen Rachel Ray making a chicken pot pie over the weekend and had been craving it. (In fact, I pulled the pork out of the freezer because I didn't have chicken!)

So I cubed the pork and went looking for a pork pot pie recipe. Nothing really suited me, so I decided to create my own. At the last second, I decided to add locally grown sweet potatoes my son had brought me from Augusta. I thought that would be yummy with the pork.

Ingredients:
One package pork tenderloin (regular or flavored. Mine happened to be lemon pepper marinated)
1 medium carrot, cubed
1 small bag frozen peas (I had a small steam-in-bag size)
1 medium Sweet potato, cubed
3-4 Tbs. flour
3-4 Tb. butter
Milk (enough to make a good gravy)
Chopped onion would be good, but I didn't have one.
One box rolled, pre-made pie crust--which is 2 crusts (or make your own if you're industrious)
[ignore the corn in the photos. When I decided to add potatoes, I left out the corn)

Cube the meat. Then lightly brown in a skillet with a little oil.

Here are the chopped veggies.

Add the potato and carrot. Cook until slightly softened. Add the peas.

When peas are thawed, add the butter and let melt. Stir. Then sprinkle with the flour. I used 2 Tbs of each, thinking that would be enough. But the dish needed more gravy. So I'm suggesting 3-4 Tbs. Stir and let cook for a minute or so. (This supposedly cooks out the raw flour flavor, although I can't say I've ever been able to tell a difference unless I'm letting the flour brown for a darker gravy).

Then pour in the milk. I always do this by eye, so it's hard to say how much. But I Googled it, and here's the typical ratio for gravy: 2 Tbs. flour, 2 Tbs. butter, 1 cup milk. So if you increase the flour and butter to 4 Tbs, use 2 cups of milk.

Then let it simmer to thicken, stirring often. While it simmers, roll out the crust into a greased pie plate. Actually, I forgot to grease it, so you'll see my slices tore up!

Fill with the mix. Top with the second crust and pinch to seal the edges. Cut vents in the top. Bake… well, until it's brown. I can't remember how long I baked this! But everything inside is cooked and hot, so just bake until crust is golden. Also, I lowered the rack in the oven so the top wouldn't get done too quickly, and also so the bottom crust would cook.

Enjoy!

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