Aussie Meat Pies from the Meat on the Menu cookbook

[judydawn]

Page 107 MOMC

Firstly, I would not call these Aussie meat pies but Asian flavoured meat pies.  For an Aussie flavour I would leave out the soy & fish sauces and add a bit of tomato sauce with the worchestershire sauce.  Having said that, these are delicious. I had recently bought 4 oval shaped individual pie tins so decided to use these instead of the muffin tins. Firstly I made the mixture exactly as per directions even though I never chop an onion on such high speed. I used round steak (410g after I had removed all the fat) and I diced it in 2.5cm cubes.  I thought there was no way it would cook in 10 minutes but at this point I checked it and it was done to perfection which I found unbelievable. Whilst the mixture was cooling I prepared the shortcrust pastry.  Whilst the pastry was resting in the fridge I cooked up a batch of potatoes & steamed some vegies.  I mashed the potatoes and used this as a topping for the meat pies instead of using puff pastry of which I had none.  I find when I do buy it and use a couple of sheets, the rest usually ends up being thrown out as it is so hard to wrap and refreeze these slices.   

Overall we were very impressed with these pies and I will certainly do them again.  It made 4 but you could make more by adding some vegies in with the meat mix and doing a double quantity of pastry.  I have taken a photo and will spend some time later trying to get it on here.  5/5 definitely.

Had another idea for using this meat mixture.  Prepare some hokkein noodles, lightly steam some asian type vegies, use a little less cornflour in the meat mixture and then toss everything together for what should be a very tasty meal.

[achookwoman]

Thanks for such a comprehensive review JD. 

[RoxyS]

Great review JD, will have to give these a try next week. Can see my menu for next week coming together already. Thanks.

[SoBlessed]

I made these last night & I'd have to agree with everything you said JD. I added mushrooms to mine as well. Also, being a bit lazy I just used 4 sheets of frozen puff pastry & made 2 big pies which I sliced & served with veggies. There was even enough for leftovers for lunch. The family loved them too!

[judydawn]

I just had to post on here again to let you all know I have finally posted my first picture thanks to the help received from CP63 & Chelsea. Scroll to the top to see it under my review.

[Very Happy Jan]

Excellent job JD. Well done. The pie looks delish. There are soooo many things to try & not enough time. I often think I can't wait to retire but then realise that by the time that happens there won't be enough of us at home to eat everything I want to cook. 

[trudy]

Great review Judy

[Thermomixer]

Congrats JD - for the review & YOUR FIRST PIC.  It does look good - thanks.   

And who said they can't teach an old .... new tricks?

[achookwoman]

JD,  WOW,  what a photo.

[versaceyoyo]

Good on you JD - great photo and very detailed, thoughtful review.  Thank you!

[Tenina]

Great Job, Judy! Glad to hear you liked them...love fish sauce as a flavour in meat dishes...just brings out the umami I think, as opposed to 'Asian'. (Did we finally strike a home run??) 

[judydawn]

Thanks Tenina, yes I think you have.  There are quite a few good reviews on here from this book and after all the knocks about H.O. and their recipes not being tested enough, it must give you a good feeling that you have done something which people are pleased with.  There will always be tweaks, no matter how good a recipe is - sometimes because we can't help but put our own touch to a recipe. Well done, what have you got planned for the next one  

[meganjane]

Wow, JD, they look lovely!

With puff pastry, I always keep the remaining sheets in their packet and place the whole packet in a large freezer bag, folding it over to keep the air out. They keep for ages this way.

[judydawn]

Thanks MJ, I didn't realise you could get freezer bags that big.  I used to put them into the plastic shopping bags which supermarkets used to pack our goodies into but here in SA they have banned them and the biggest bag we get now is those we can pack our vegies into and they are nowhere near big enough.  I was then just wrapping it in plastic wrap but that wasn't the answer as all the edges would go dry.

[Thermomixer]

JD - the large freezer bags are better as they are less likely to allow the sheets to dry out.