The Good ol' Aussie Meat Pie ...

Any Aussie away from home seems to long for meat pies, and I am no different. I loved stopping at the local pie shop on the way home from the Sunday soccer game, and then collapsing into my bed and sleeping the rest of the afternoon (particularly when we were playing in 5 degrees celcius)!

Even now when I go back to Australia I will endevour to buy a meat pie as soon as I can (unfortunately I am also bitterly disappointed by the quality of pies these days! Poor quality meat and terrible pastry). Anyway, tonight, since it was cold and wet by Manila standards - and definitely 'stay indoors' weather, I decided it was time to bake a classic mince and onion pie. I also used a simple recipe for short crust pastry. (Pre-prepared pastry is not readily available in the Philipines - I did however find pre-prepared filo and puff pastry at Santis.). I really do NOT enjoy making pastry but I have little choice. Well, it's taken many failed attempts to get it right (finally) and the only piece of advice I would give is ....

'don't touch the dough with your hands for very long - always use cold instruments to mix, and make sure the butter is really, really cold to begin with. '

The end result was a great meat pie. The only addition from me was that I replaced Worcestershire sauce with Honey and Teriyake marinade, and also added 1 teaspoon of curry powder to the mince - as well as cracked pepper.

Ingredients

3 medium onions

2 carrots

2 sticks of celery

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

olive oil

2 bay leaves

500g of good-quality minced beaf (from Rustans)

1 teaspoon of English mustard (I used hot mustard)

I tbsp of Worchestire sauce (very english, I used teriyake marinade)

2 tsp of flour

1 beef stock cube

500g of shortcrust pastry

1 large egg

To Make the Mince Filling

Roughly chop onions, carrots and celery. In a large casserole type pan or crockery pot add olive oil and the vegetables and rosemary. Stir for around 10 mins until vege has softened. Add minced beef. Add mustard, sauce, and flour. Dissolve beef stock in 2 litres of boiling water and add to mixture. Bring to boil and simmer for an hour. (I simmered for more than an hour because I wanted the mixture to be less runny). Stir now and again.

To Make the Pie

Fill a baking dish with mince and allow to cool down. Make the shortcrust pastry (takes up to 15 mins) and roll it out. (when you roll out pastry with a rolling pin you have to do it quickly because the longer it takes the more the butter will melt and your pastry turn into a gluggy mess). When you get the pastry large enough for your serving dish place it on top of the serving dish. Cut off any excess pastry and use it to plug up any other areas. Using a fork press down around the edge of the pastry dish to 'crimp'. Make a hole in the middle of the pastry using the tip of the knife. Brush the top of the pastry with a beaten egg (you need a pastry brush for this ...) And pop into an oven 180 degrees celcius for about 20 mins or until the pastry is brown on top.

Bon Appetit!