Individual Italian Pot Pies...

If you took a peek into one of our freezers (don't ask how many we have...!), one ingredient you will typically find is lean ground sirloin. Useful in a variety of dishes, it browns in a snap and makes for speedy weeknight meals, just like these individual Italian Pot Pies we made for dinner.

To place underneath a homemade biscuit topping, a mixture of onions, carrots and garlic was softened in just a touch of olive oil. While the original recipe didn't call for fresh garlic, I thought it would be an appropriate addition, especially given the recipe name... so we tossed a couple minced cloves in. We tossed the sirloin in and let the crumbles gain a bit of color before adding a couple cups of homemade marinara sauce that we also had stashed away in the freezer. Jarred sauce would certainly be fine, but just be sure to use a favorite that has plenty of flavor coursing through.

After giving the beefy mixture a few minutes to bubble and thicken, we divided the saucy concoction between four ramekins. If you don't have any of those handy ramekins, you could use a smaller casserole dish or even a larger loaf pan, if needed. With a few strokes of a sturdy wooden spoon, we prepared the rosemary-scented biscuit dough to scoop on top to cap these individual pot pies off. Rosemary wasn't the only ingredient flavoring these biscuits; we also tossed in a grating of fresh Parmesan cheese for a sharp note.

While the filling is completely cooked, you'll need to bake these ramekins long enough to lift the biscuit dough to a light golden brown. Quite hearty, these pot pies were homey, comforting and didn't take too long to throw together! If the biscuit topping doesn't strike your fancy, how 'bout whipping up a batch of mashed potatoes (using the same rosemary and Parmesan additions!) and piping or dolloping them on instead to twist this more towards being a shepherd's pie?

Recipes
Italian Pot Pies