Aussie Meat Pies

I had another exciting encounter with a Foodnetwork chef this week! My friends and I met Anna Olson!!! I don't know what it is about our university that attracts these chefs but I'm totally on board. We attended a small and intimate gathering where she shared her culinary journey and we enjoyed some delicious coconut and sweet potato soup. We actually got to spend a pretty long time with her it was awesome! She is such a lovely person and so approachable... not to mention inspiring. So we're slowly meeting all the Canadian Foodnetwork chefs. Next up? We are dying to meet Anthony Sedlak and Chuck Hughes! Roadtrip to Montreal and/or BC in the near future I think...

Anyways, time for the food:

One of my dad's favourite things to eat in Australia are the meat pies. They are so popular there, you can find them everywhere. When we were in Sydney my dad ate about a pie a day (sometimes 2) for 10 days. Yup, he loves them. You really don't come across fresh meat pies here nearly as often, and the frozen ones are no comparison. Now it's really not convenient to fly to Australia everytime a meat pie craving develops (although I would love to!) so I decided to start baking pies for my dad so he can enjoy them at home.

I graciously welcome any chance to bake with puff pastry. After looking at many aussie meat pie recipes I came up with the most authentic recipe I could (without actually baking them IN Australia). The beef filling in these is deliciously flavourful! My recipe calls for vegemite and if you don't happen to have that in your kitchen you can simply eliminate it from the recipe.

So what does my dad, the meat pie conoisseur, think of my pies? Well I've made these for him three times and with each batch I barely manage to snatch a bite as he fights me off with his fork and grumbling tone. I think he likes them quite a bit.

Australian Meat Pies



Ingredients:

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 pkg frozen puff pastry, thawed

2 lb ground beef

1/2 onion, diced

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

1 beef stock cube

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp vegemite

1/4 cup ketchup

2 cup water

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 egg, beaten for glaze

4 medium pie tins

Preheat oven to 300F

Allow the puff pastry to thaw so that you can cut circles to line the 4 pie tins, and cut an additional 4 circles for the pie tops.

Set a small pot of water to boil over medium heat. Once boiling add the chopped carrots and cook until soft and tender (about 7 minutes). Drain and set aside.

Heat the oil in an sauce pan over medium heat. Cook the onions for 3-4 minutes (until soft and translucent)

Add the ground beef and cook for about 4 minutes or until browned. Drain.

Add the beef stock, vegemite, soy sauce and pepper. Mix everything, cooking for another 3-4 minutes.

Add the flour and stir to cook it a bit before adding water.

Start adding water 1 cup at a time. Stir and bring the mixture to a simmer. After the water has cooked off a bit, add the ketchup and then the other cup of water. You want it to be thick not watery. Add the cooked carrots and stir well.

Spoon the mixture into the pastry lined pie tins. Cover each pie with its "lid" and trim all excess pastry. Use a fork and press gently along the pie edges to seal them.

Brush the tops of the pies with egg wash (1 egg beaten with a couple tbsps of water).

Place them in the oven and bake until the tops are flakey and golden brown.

Allow to cool before removing from pie tins.

Enjoy!