Sausage Pot Pie

We went to my in-law's home a year ago or so (no I don't hate them, they just live a 10 hour drive from me!) and my MIL made sausage pot pie.  I'd only ever had chicken pot pie, which, most of the time, I thought was just "okay".  The sausage pot pie was yummy.  My kids thought it was a gift sent from God from His own table.  My son loved it so much he requested it for his birthday dinner (a good 10 months from then).  And then every month he would bring it up again that he still wanted that for his birthday.  Well the pie was really good, so I asked my MIL for the recipe.  I'll give you the bad news first:  It had canned EVERYTHING, the worst being a can of mushroom soup.  And store-bought pie crusts.

First of all, store-bought crust tastes like cardboard.  It just does, so no thank you.  Also, I sorta have a thing against cooking with canned soups.  I'm not 100% sure why, but I think it is a "must cook from scratch" code/obsession that I've developed since becoming an adult.  I've become seriously snobbish about it, no offense to anyone.  I know some people think canned soup is poison in a can, but that's a little dramatic.  I'm sure it's not great, but, I mean, bacon, and butter, and coconut oil, and ice cream, etc., are all bad for you if you eat a bunch.  What I'm saying is, I'm not against canned soup for health reasons, because I'd eat too much ice cream and butter every day if I could (dairy-lover here!).  It's just a weird obsession with cooking from scratch whenever possible.  Sorry for going off on that tangent--back to the story...

So since I won't be using a can of mushroom soup, or a bunch of limp and mushy canned veggies (because, ew...), or store-bought crusts, what am I to do?! (Say that last part with a British accent and some good old-fashioned feminine wo-is-me angst.  Because it's important! Gah, don't question me--who's the author here anyway?) Well, there is good news my woeful, British wanna-be: we have everything we need to make this yummy pie and take it to the next level (the next level being the one with real food people!).  From scratch.  YES!  Here we go....

Pie Filling Ingredients:

• 2 lb. ground pork sausage, regular (or hot if you like that. I do, but the kids don't)
• Two onions, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 5 smallish potatoes (I used gold), cubed
• 1 1/2 cups frozen peas OR frozen cut green beans
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2-3 cups milk
• 1/3-3/4 cup flour
• salt & pepper
• 1 Tbs. Olive oil

Pie Crust Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 cup olive or canola oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 tsp. (heaping) table salt
• 1 egg, beaten (for optional egg wash)

Makes: two 9-inch pies

Assembly: 30 minutes

Cook time: 35-45 minutes

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.  (my oven cooks very hot, so I set mine just below 400) and get out two 9-inch pie dishes (do not spray with cooking oil)
2. Chop up your veggies.
3. Brown that sausage in a skillet until you start getting some delicious brown crust on a bit of it.  Turn off the heat, but leave everything else as is.  
4. Get another skillet or pot out and heat over medium heat with 1 Tbs. olive oil.  Throw the veggies (minus the peas) in and stir, cooking until carrots and potatoes are al dente, probably about 10-13 min. or so (since you are going to be putting them in the pie to cook more, you don't want them cooked all the way yet).  Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. While veggies are cooking, you can turn your sausage pan back on, around medium heat.  Add 1/3 cup flour to the sausage and mix.  If it still looks like there is a lot of grease, you may need to add more flour, but don't do too much or your gravy will be too thick.  
6. Once flour is fully incorporated, add milk slowly, stirring as you pour.  I'm not very good at measuring things while I'm cooking on the fly, so you'll have to eyeball this.  You want it to be pretty thick because it will get mixed with the veggies and sour cream.  Maybe like a cake-batter consistency? Not like gravy you pour on your mashed potatoes, that's too runny.  Maybe a tiny bit thicker than gravy you'd have on your biscuits.  Sorry I wasn't more accurate here.  Also add salt and pepper to taste.  (make sure you taste as you add salt--it's really easy to get underseasoned gravy, but once you know that, it becomes easy to get overly salty gravy too).  
7. Once your gravy is simmering and has reached the desired consistency, turn off heat.
8.  Now the crust: Place flour and salt together in a medium mixing bowl.  Measure out oil and water, then add both to the flour and salt.  Mix with a fork until everything comes together, don't overmix.  
9. Separate dough into 4 equal portions.  Using a couple sheets of wax paper or two silicone baking mats, place one dough portion rolled into a ball between wax paper sheets.  Take a rolling pin and roll dough out into as much of a circle as you can, trying to keep the thickness even.  
10. Once you get it big enough that it will hang over the edges of your pie dish (I use glass pie dishes) a little, gently peel back the top piece of wax paper, then turn the wax paper holding the pie crust over onto your pie dish (dough facing down), and gently peel back remaining piece of wax paper.  Gently adjust crust to fit the pie dish, trying to make the dough flush with the glass (try to get all the air out from under dough).  
11. Repeat steps 9 & 10 one more time for the other pie dish.
12. Mix your sausage gravy with the cooked veggies, add 1 cup sour cream to the mixture, then put half of everything into one pie, and the other half in the other pie.  
13. Roll out the two remaining crusts and place over pies.
14. There should be "excess" crust hanging over the edges.  Using your fingers, gently take hold of the crust hanging over the edge and fold it under, pinching a little to secure.  Go around the entire pie folding the crust under and pinching. 
15.  Crack egg into a bowl and beat.  Using a pastry brush, brush the egg all over the top pie crust.  (This gives the crust a nice shine after it bakes)
16.  Cut a 4 or 5 small holes in the top crust to allow steam to escape during baking.
17. Place pies into preheated oven for 35-45 minutes, or until crust is just past golden brown (but not burnt!).  When you check the pies, check the bottom crust to see if it has browned at all (this is why glass pans are great).  No one likes raw, soggy crust on bottom!