A Little Bit Of Pie Goes A Long Way

Pie On The Go...

Meat Pie

Last night I was craving for something savory, small enough to enjoy and I must admit that I didn't really have a lot of ingredients. So I came up with a basic recipe, baked the pies in a muffin pan and surprise surprise they taste delicious.

Recipe:

• Steaks (finely diced into small pieces)
• 1 Onion (diced)
• Puff Pastry (I took the 400g packet)
• Spices (any you prefer)

Firstly fry the onion brown in a pot and then add the meat. While the meat is cooking, add you preferable spices. I added some mince spice, 2 bay leaves, parsley, salt and pepper. I then added some water (around 500ml) to the meat and onions, and let it boil slowly. I did this to soften the meat and the sauce is automatically created. After 45min the meat is soft, but if your sauce/gravy is too thin add a little bit of cornflour/soup mix.

While waiting for the meat to cool off, I rolled out the puff pastry and then cut the pastry into 12 squares (12 cup muffin pan) and I still had some leftover pastry, which I then also cut up into smaller 24 strips.  Grease the muffin pan, gently place each square into each cup. Add the pie filling (meat & onions) and then I placed the leftover strips on top, half closing the pie and yet leaving open holes to let the pie 'breathe'.

Bake the pies at 200 Degrees Celsius for 30-40 minutes or until pastry is golden brown in colour. Voila! Serve hot.

Here are some other great ideas:

• Add chopped mushrooms to pie filling
• Chicken, mince, sausages, bacon are also great to add to the pie filling
• For a richer pie, add some cream or milk instead of water to create a lovely gravy
• Make an egg wash, brush on top of pastry before baking. This makes the pies look even more delicious. (1 egg mixed with a bit of milk)
• Brush pies with egg wash and then sprinkle some spices on top, such as rosemary or parsley.
• Or sprinkle some cheddar cheese on top, but I would suggest to do only so 10minutes before the pies are done. You don't want to accidentally burn the cheese.