Meat. Is there any greater thing to put in your food? Of course not.
The Dish: Garreg Mach Meat Pie
A crispy-brown pie packed with tomatoes, cheese, and tender chunks of meat. Ingredients are Wild Game and Tomato.
The Research: “Meat pie” has two distinct meanings to me: first, as someone who has been to Natchitoches, Louisiana, the “empanada” style of meat pie; second, a nice shepherd’s pie. I decided to go with the latter, as I absolutely won’t mess with puff pastry.
For the topping, I’m going to use Binging with Babish’s mashed potato shepherd’s pie topping, and for the filling, I’m gonna use a version of the shepherd’s pie in this Cracked article…with a few tweaks.
For the “wild game”, all I could locate was lamb. If it helps, imagine Fódlan being overrun by bloodthirsty carnivorous sheep.
The Method: I pretty much followed Babish’s topping to the letter. I didn’t peel my potatoes because I’m incredibly lazy, but that was about the only deviation there. If you need to justify this to friends and family, tell them it’s where all the fiber is. As for the filling, we’re gonna hit it with not one, not two, not even three, but four distinct flavor boosters.
So let’s start with number one: our own homemade cream of mushroom. I use this recipe, with one substitution: I use the Green Giant Frozen Mushrooms. Anyway, with that done, set it aside. Next, your meat.
Brown your meat, then add your homemade cream of mushroom soup, the frozen peas and carrots, and instead of ketchup, our second flavor booster: tomato paste. Get that mixture a-simmerin’ for a bit, then it’s time to dump in flavor boosters three and four: a splash of Worcestershire and a splash of dry red wine…
WARNING: Wine lecture incoming.
…and since I’m a guy with a food blog, I guess now I’m obligated to weigh in. Okay, so, I’ve heard several food voices I admire swear up and down that you should only cook with wine you’d drink, and several other food voices I admire say that it doesn’t matter. In my experience, it really depends.
If you’re cooking with something where the wine is gonna be really noticeable, like a wine sauce, yeah, you probably wouldn’t enjoy it if you don’t drink that wine. But if you’re just throwing some into a dish to add flavor, then go crazy, use whatever. I used a dry red wine and I hardly drink wine…and when I do, I normally drink a sweet white.
Wine Lecture Complete.
With that done, top the filling with the topping, and bake in the oven at the recommended temperature. You can use a casserole dish, or do what I did and cook in a cast-iron skillet. It’ll come out sooner or later.
The Result: Hell yes. So what we’ve basically got is a dish I regularly make, with a deliciously enhanced topping (I normally heat up some frozen mashed cauliflower when I make it on weeknights). This dish is a solid 10…though I did put some diced tomatoes in there and they pretty much disappeared.
Disclaimer: This is a fan-based blog and has no affiliation with Nintendo or any other rightsholders of Fire Emblem, Fire Emblem Three Houses, or any other associated brands. Beware of Snarling Hungry Sheep Hill.
Cooking with FE3H 