Meat pies

I wish you could smell what I'm smelling right now. (I'd say I wish you could taste it, but then I'd have to share, and that ain't happening!) Because I have successfully made an Australian-style meat pie, the holy grail of meat pies. Don't mind me while I polish one off... I'll only be a moment....

Ahh, much better. My tongue is burnt but my tummy is happy! Meat pies are an Australian fixture. There is not a bakery you can walk into that doesn't have them. For that matter, there are very few food stores that don't have some version of a meat pie, even if they have to grab a frozen one and warm it up for you. They were a staple for us while we travelled, warm, filling and oh, sooo good. Plus, they were cheap. The beef meat pies were unlike any we had in Canada. Just the other day, Laurie mentioned to me that we should have thought to buy ourselves an cookbook with meatpie recipes while we were there. So it got stuck in my head, and when I found ground beef on sale today, I decided to use a recipe from online and try my hand at meat pies.
Actually, I also happened to have a bunch of pie shells on hand from when I made quiche a couple weeks ago and had way too much pie dough. I had saved the crusts because I knew I could do something with them. It made this recipe all the simpler. I didn't measure anything, so I can't give an exact recipe, but I'll give you an idea of what I did...

Aussie meat pies:
1. Brown beef with onions and garlic (well, onions and garlic aren't necessary to the recipe, but I wanted them), until meat is browned. Add small scoop of flour (just enough to soak up liquid from frying meat and onions) and beef bouillon. Add enough water to mixture to let it boil for about 10-20 minutes without going dry (but whatever you do, don't make it soupy). Now, the most important addition, squirt in some soy and/or worchestershire (I can't pronounce it or spell it!) sauce to taste. Let it simmer at least 10-20minutes. You should have mostly meat with a thick gravy to hold it together.


2. Pull out or make pie shells, you'll need top and bottom crusts.


3. Add meat with sauce and any other ingredient you like with it (ie: cheese, bacon, cooked veggies) to the pie shells, and seal top shell to bottom.



4. Place in oven at 375F (or in my oven, which needs recalibration badly, 385F) for about 30 minutes or until pie shells are nicely browned.



5. Let cool, and dig in!