Aussie Meat Pies

The humble meat pie is an Aussie icon.  Just the right size to hold in one hand at the footy, a quick and easy lunch on the run from the bakery or even an easy dinner served with mash and veg.  I decided to try a healthier version.
This meat mixture makes enough for six smallish sized pies, about the same as you'd get in a bakery or pie shop.  If you're serving less you can freeze the rest of the meat for later.



500g gravy beef, diced into small pieces

1/4 cup plain flour

black pepper

3 cloves garlic, chopped finely (I used four!)

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 stick celery, diced

(I added some diced mushrooms that I had leftover)

beef stock (about 3/4 cup for slow cooker, 1 cup for stovetop)

1 tbs Worcestershire sauce

2 tbs tomato paste

2 tsp dried mixed herbs

More freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 sheets frozen reduced fat puff pastry

2 sheets reduced fat shortcrust pastry

olive oil cooking spray

1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 200C (390F) or 180C and 370F fan forced.

Put flour and freshly ground black pepper into bag and add diced beef, shake to coat.

Spray pan with cooking oil and saute vegies and garlic for a few minutes until soft.  Remove, spray pan again with cooking spray and heat, add beef in batches and brown.

Add vegies back into pan and add the tomato paste, stirring it into the meat and vegies to cook off the rawness.  Add stock, sauce and herbs.  Cover and simmer on stove for about 2 hours or until meat is very tender.  I cooked mine on low for about eight hours in my slow cooker.  It doesn't matter if the meat starts to break down and go mushy, that's what you want in a proper meat pie.

I used disposable foil pie tins but any little dish with sides could be used.

Put dish upside down on shortcrust pastry and cut around to make the bottoms.

Lightly spray some cooking spray into the tins then line with the pastry.

Put some baking paper on top of the pastry and fill with baking beads.  I use split peas and return them to the jar to use again, you can use rice or lentils or specially made ceramic beads if you want to get fancy (but it is an Aussie meat pie after all!)  Blind bake in a hot oven (about 200C) for ten minutes, remove the beads and paper and bake for another five minutes or so.  Fill pie shells with meat mixture that has been cooled slightly.  Cut rounds out of the puff pastry, if you're careful you can get three discs from each sheet of pastry but this depends, of course, on how big your pie tins are.  Crimp the pastry down onto the bottom shell, cut a little hole in the top with the tip of a sharp knife and brush with beaten egg.

Bake in a hot oven, about 200C for twenty minutes but watch them carefully.  I left the kitchen and got sidetracked and caught the pies just before the tops burned too much to be palatable!

We had them with oven fries and salad.

Yesterday I made pies with the rest of the meat and added chopped fried bacon and some grated light cheddar cheese onto the top of the meat and a little on the top pastry.  I froze one and Phill thawed it out and heated it up in a slow oven for lunch and said it was very good.

Of course they must be served with tomato sauce (Ketchup).