Majestic Meat Pies
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| Meat Pie |
Pie is
one of the most forgiving dishes out there.
No matter what you cook, no matter
whether the ingredients are fresh, formerly frozen, or made the day or night before, people will always get excited by something
wrapped in golden flakey pastry.
The
trouble with pie making is that most people are scared of it. Why? Because of
the very thing that turns a pie into a pie: THE CRUST. Pie crust is tricky and
scary to make because getting it wrong can result in something ugly and
sometimes even inedible...
...Luckily, there are ways around this.
Food
companies recognized a long time ago that the culinarily challenged are not a
minority. They realized that they can make a buck off those who don't have the
time, patience, or skill to spend an hour making pastry, and have produced
pre-packaged pie crusts, puff pastry, and crescent roll doughs that can be used
for pies in a pinch.
There
are TONS of different kinds of pies out there.
For meat lovers, you have variations on meat pies typically associated
with Quebec, UK, and New Zealand cuisine. For those who prefer chicken, you've
got American style chicken pot pie; for fish lovers, you have fish pie.
Vegetarian? No problem! Try a quiche, samosa (an Indian style portable pie), or
veggie tart (tart is a French word for
pie; in the culinary world it refers to a specific type of open-faced pie). Want a dessert pie? NO PROBLEM. You can
stick any fruit in a crust and call it a pie. Prefer something chocolatey or
nutty? Try pecan, chocolate cream, or a chocolate peanut butter pie. I will be
covering some version of all of these kinds of pies in the articles to follow. If you're feeling brave and have lots of time to spare, I will also include a recipe for pie crust.
But for today, I'll be showing you one of
my favorites: Meat pie.
My meat
pie recipe is sort of a hybrid between the Quebec, New Zealand, and British
versions, meaning I use meat and vegetables commonly found in Quebec meat pies,
but I tie the ingredients together with a tomato and broth based gravy as you
would in the latter two versions.
Meat
pie, like anything else, varies in terms of taste, texture, and contents. Some,
like the Quebec meat pies or tourtières that I grew up with are more meat heavy,
but others from specific regions of Quebec like Lac St Jean are fortified with
potatoes. The type of meat used is really a matter of taste. I use ground beef,
pork, or sausage meat, but I've heard of recipes using everything from pork to
venison to horse meat. While the meat in tourtière tends to be a bit drier in
texture, New Zealand meat pies use a wet tomato-based gravy to tie all the
ingredients together. British versions use meat and flour based gravies to
stick all the fillings together.
If
there's one thing you need to know about making a good meat pie, it's this: make sure your filling is COOKED and
COOLED before you put it in your pie. Failure to do so will result in a
mushy mess!
All
that said, let's get started.
Sammy's Majestic Meat
Pie
Difficulty
Level: Easy
Prep:
15 minutes
Cook
Time: 45 minutes or until the pastry is
golden brown - don't be afraid to check
Serves
2 -4
Ingredients
FILLING
1 Rib or Stalk of Celery - Finely chopped
1 Medium sized Carrot - the tough woody
bit at the end cut off, and the rest of the carrot finely chopped
1 Medium Onion - Finely chopped
5 Mushrooms - Finely Chopped
1/2 a Pound of Ground Beef - OR - 4
Sausages, removed from their casings (that
skin the sausages are packed in)
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil + 1 Tablespoon
of Butter
GRAVY
This gravy
is good with meat and potatoes, and even on buttered egg noodles, but I use it
as a binder for my meat pie
1/4 Cup Canned, Instant, or Homemade Beef
Stock - I don't have the
time to roast and boil bones to make good beef stock, so I just use the instant
stuff you add to hot water and it turns out just fine.
2 Tablespoons of Cream of Mushroom Soup -
This acts as both
flavoring and thickener. If you can't mix meat and milk for religious reasons,
leave it out and use half as much broth.
1 Heaping Tablespoon of Undiluted Canned
Tomato Soup - I use this
stuff all the time as a thickener for soups and sauces because it adds
tomatoeyness and a hint of sweetness.
1 /4 Cup of Dark Beer or Red Wine -
Optional - I use
Guinness because it adds a nice bitterness and yeasty chocolate notes which
give depth of flavor. For those of you who don't like beer, red wine will add
similar depth. Though a lot of the alcohol cooks off, if you're worried about
feeding this to your kids, you can leave it out.
1 Teaspoon of Worcestshire Sauce
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1 Teaspoon of flour
CRUST
1 or 2 Packages of readymade Pie Crusts
Most
readymade pie dough comes with 2 crusts - enough for a top and bottom crust.
Check the box in case you need an extra.
- OR -
1 or 2 Packages Readymade Frozen Puff
Pastry, thawed according to package directions - Some brands of puff pastry come in a
single sheet per package. Others come in 2 bricks you have to split and roll
with a rolling before putting to use. I prefer the puff pastry for pies because
the result is much flakier than regular pie dough.
5 Tablespoons of Flour - Optional - If you opt to use puff pastry, you will probably
need to roll it out, and that will mean keeping it from sticking to your
rolling pin and countertop. That's what the flour is for.
1 Beaten Egg mixed with a Tablespoon of
water - Optional - This
gives the pie that extra golden sheen, but it's not necessary.
Equipment
1 Round Cake Pan or Pie Plate
1 Knife and Cutting Board
1 Frying Pan
1 Wooden Spoon
1 Fork
1 Whisk
3 Regular Bowls
Measuring Cup(s)
Measuring Spoons
1 Regular Spoon
1 Large Mixing Bowl or Plastic Container
1 Rolling Pin - Optional - For rolling
out puff pastry - No
rolling pin? No problem! Any heavy cylindrical object - within reason - will do
the job so long as you wrap it in a few layers of saran wrap first.
Turn
your frying pan on high heat and dump in your meat. If you're using sausage
meat there will be no need to add salt. If you're using ground beef or pork,
season it with salt and pepper.
Cook
the meat until all of it has changed colour and released some of its liquid.
Turn
off the heat and CAREFULLY pour out the liquid and discard it. Put the browned
meat in a regular bowl and set it aside.
In a
second regular bowl, whisk together all the gravy ingredients, taste it, add
some salt and pepper, and set it aside.
In the
same frying pan, add the olive oil and butter and heat on medium high, swirling
it around until the butter is melted.
Add the
chopped celery, onions, and carrots, stirring every 3 minutes until the onions
have turned soft and translucent.
Now add
the mushrooms and stir everything together for a few minutes until the
mushrooms have darkened and shrunk, releasing some of their liquids.
Pour in
the gravy and the meat and stir everything around for 5 minutes to combine it
and cook off some of the liquid, thickening the filling.
Pour it
all into a mixing bowl and leave it to cool to room temperature. This will take
about 30 minutes, but it's totally worth it. Pour hot filling into a raw pie
crust will melt the crust, resulting in a soupy, gloopy mess.
When
the filling is ready, preheat your oven to 350 oF and prep your pie
dough.
IF YOU'RE USING PUFF PASTRY
Clean
your countertop, dry it well, and spread the flour onto it with your bare
hands. Spread whatever flour is left on your hands onto your rolling pin. This
will keep the pastry from sticking to it.
Using
your trusty rolling pin, roll each sheet of puff pastry about 1/4 inch thick by
rolling the pin firmly back and forth over the dough. See the image below.
Drape
one sheet of dough over your rolling pin (see the image below) and use it to put the dough into in
the baking pan.
Lightly
press the pie dough into your pan with your fingers and dump in the filling,
spreading it around with a fork.
Put the
second sheet of pastry over the top using the same drape-over-the-rolling-pin
method and press the ends of the top and bottom sheets of pastry together.
Using
your knife, cut slits in the top of the pie crust at random intervals. This
will allow steam to escape your pie and keep it from exploding.
Using
the same knife, cut any extra bits of crust that are going beyond the edge of
the pie. You can use these to decorate the pie as I did, or you can put some
melted butter and cinnamon sugar on them and make cookies later.
Spread
some beaten egg over the top of the pie, if using, and it's ready to bake!
Bake
for 30 to 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. If your oven doesn't
have a window, don't be afraid to open the oven and check on it after thirty
minutes. Just be quick about it so not too much heat escapes.
IF YOU'RE USING READY MADE PIE DOUGH
Put one
pie crust in the bottom of your pan, press it in to form a sort of 'bowl', add
your filling, and then put the second crust on top.
Press
the outer edges of the top pie crust into the outer edges of the bottom crust and
trim off any excess.
Cut
slits into the top pie crust, and spread the top with a little beaten egg if
using.
Bake
for 30 to 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
Regardless of which type of crust you
use, you will need to let the pie cool for 10 minutes once it's out of the oven
otherwise you'll burn your mouth.
You can
now devour it solo - it's that good -
or share with someone special!
Stay
tuned for next time when I'll be showing you another favorite: fish pie!
-Samantha R. Gold
Questions? Comments?
Requests?
Bring it on!
I can be reached at: for.the.culinarily.challenged@gmail.com
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