Meat Pies - Really?

I ran across these in New Zealand when Eumy and I visited there. Saved us really. They are everywhere and they are delicious. And when you are on an early excursion and have no idea what you might eat - stop anywhere, get a meat pie and be happy!

The below recipe is simple and quite honestly not the most exciting and exotic. But a good place to start. A mushroom recipe would be awesome. Basically think of any soup you might make and boil it down and use for the filling for the pie. Liz and Cori - easy subs for anything you might want.

And I used the Pillsbury pie dough for this. It was in the fridge and super easy to use and really good, but a Martha or Ina G recipe is worthwhile.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients 

• 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil

• 1 lb ground beef (or substitute)

• 1 tbsp salt

• 1 tsp cayenne pepper

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• 1 tsp chili powder

• 1 tsp cumin ground

• 1 tsp ground black pepper

• 1 small yellow onion chopped

• 1 green pepper cored, seeded, and chopped

• 1 serrano pepper seeded and chopped

• 6-8 cherry tomatoes diced

• 1 tsp dried thyme

• 2 bay leaves

• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

• ~2 tbsp all-purpose flour

• ~2 tbsp water

• 4 green onions thinly sliced

• 5 dashes of hot sauce

• Pillsbury Pie Dough

• 1 egg for egg wash

Instructions

• Heat the oil in skillet over medium-high heat.

• In a bowl, mix the salt, cayenne, paprika, chili powder, cumin and black pepper.

• Sprinkle over ground beef or beef substitute. 

• Cook over medium heat for about till meat is just browned. Leave some pink as there is a lot more cooking in front of you. 

• Add the onion, bell pepper, jalapeno, tomatoes, thyme, bay leaves, and Worcestershire sauce and cook, stirring for an extra 15 minutes, until most of the juices have evaporated and the veggies have softened.

• Dust the flour over the meat and add the water, stirring to combine to thicken the sauce.

• Stir in the green onions and hot sauce and transfer the mixture to a baking pan.

• Line baking pan(s) with parchment paper.

• Dust your counter with flour and roll out one of the rounds of dough to under 1/4 inch thick.

• Use a 4 inch biscuit cutter (or a lid of a jar) to cut the dough into rounds. Or cut into any shape you want. It does not need to be a circle. Look at other recipes and find a shape you want. No rules on any of this! 

• Place 1 to 2 teaspoons of the filling in the center of each round, or square or rectangle, etc.

• Fold over the filling.

• Using the back side of a fork, press around the edges to seal the pie.

• Lightly brush the outer edges of each pie with egg wash (which is one egg and a little bit of water).

• Transfer the pies to the prepared baking sheet

• Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

• Preheat oven to 350° F.)

• Cook for 30 minutes but check at 20 min mark. You want a browned crust and hot inside.