Guest Author - Michelle R. Mangio
The holidays have just ended, and I'm sitting here thinking about all the great traditional food I've had over the past couple of weeks. Between Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, that's a lot of eating!
But as the snow howls outside my window and the stew simmers on the stove, I find I have a sudden craving for a traditional Aussie dish: a meat pie. Warm, delicious, and great "finger food," it would be the perfect way to chase away the cold of a New England winter.
The meat pie is a good old Aussie favorite, especially at sporting events or at parties. You can make them large, to feed several folks all at once, or smaller, as appetizers or just "personal" sized. They are delicious and, best of all, exceedingly easy to make.
Australia Meat Pie Recipe
Ingredients:
1 medium brown onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 lbs of ground, lean beef (finely minced)
1 tsp of soy sauce
1 Tbsp of cornstarch
3/4 cup of beef stock
2 bouillon cubes of beef
1 tsp vegemite or substitute 1 vegetable stock cube
2 1/2 cup of water
1 pinch of nutmeg
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of pepper
2 cups of flour
4 sheets ready-made pie pastry
1 egg, beaten
4 small pie tins & baking tray
Tomato sauce (ketchup)
Making the pie filling:
1. Cook meat in pan over low heat until meat is well browned.
2. Drain off any extra fat.
3. Add crumbled stock cubes, water, salt, pepper and nutmeg to the meat. Stir until boiling, then reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 20 min, then remove from heat.
4. Combine extra water and flour; stir until flour mixture is smooth. Add flour mixture to meat, stir until combined.
5. Return to heat, stir until meat boils and thickens.
6. Add soy sauce (to give brown color), stir until combined. Simmer, uncovered, 5 to 10 min; remove from heat allow to become cold.
Make the pie base:
7. Sift flour and salt into basin. Place water and dripping into saucepan, stir until dripping melts; remove from heat.
8. Make a well in center of dry ingredients, add liquid, and stir until combined.
9. Turn out onto lightly floured surface, knead lightly. Roll out pastry to line eight greased pie tins.
10. Cut excess pastry around sides of pie plates using a sharp knife. Fill centers with cold meat filing.
11. Pie crust: Roll out puff pastry on lightly floured surface, cut out rounds for top of pies, use a saucer as a guide.
12. Wet edges of base pastry, and gently press tops into place, trim around edges with a sharp knife. Brush tops with combined egg-yolk and water.
Cooking
13. Preheat oven to 420 degrees Fahrenheit
14. Bake in hot oven 10 to 15 minutes
15. Reduce heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, cook for an additional 10-20 minutes or until golden brown
16. Serve with ketchup
