Pies ?

Coming into winter i would love to give making a pie a go, something rich and yummy with plenty of goodness.

I'm willing to give most things a try however we do not eat mushrooms or liver etc.

So firstly what will i need in the way of a pie dish/es.
Do you make your own pastry or do you use store bought?

Ohh so many alternatives, so give me your best PIE recipe.

My DH makes his pastry, I on the other hand I use frozen :) Here is one from the Readers Digest Website, packed with flavour and easy! You will need a pie dish, as is a glass pyrex one, that is around 20cm. Depth is another you need to consider when buying one. You can get them everywhere, Harris Scarf usually have good prices pie dishes. Even though this is for indvidual pies, I must made one big one.


The perfect meat pie has a base of shortcrust pastry for tenderness, a puff pastry lid for crispness, and a well-flavoured filling.

Australian Meat Pie Ingredients
Preparation time:20 minutes
Cooling time: 3 hours
Cooking time: 55 minutes
Serves four

- 2 tablespoons dripping or oil
- 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 500 g lean minced beef
- 2 tablespoons plain flour
- 1/3 cup bought tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/4 cups beef stock
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 sheets ready-rolled frozen shortcrust pastry
- 4 sheets ready-rolled frozen puff pastry
- 1 egg, beaten

How to Cook an Australian Meat Pie
1 Heat the dripping or oil in a medium frying pan. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until the onion is soft. Add the minced beef, increase the heat to high and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to break up any lumps for 6–8 minutes, or until the mince is brown.

2 Sprinkle the flour over the meat and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce and beef stock. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally to prevent the meat from sticking to the base of the pan, for 10 minutes, or until the sauce is thick. Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool completely.

3 Preheat the oven to 200°C. Using a small plate about 17 cm in diameter as a guide, cut four circles from the shortcrust pastry and use them to line the base and sides of four 1-cup pie tins. Fill the pastry with the meat mixture – avoid spilling any on the edges.

4 Using the same plate as a guide, cut four circles from the puff pastry. Brush the shortcrust pastry edges of the pies with water to moisten and top with the puff pastry circle. Press the pastry edges together to secure. Trim the excess pastry with a sharp knife and crimp the edges. Cut a small cross in the centre of each pie and brush the top with beaten egg.

5 Bake the pies in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 180°C and bake for a further 20 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed and golden. Serve the pies immediately with creamy mashed potato and boiled green peas and pass some extra tomato sauce separately, if desired.

Have a look in the supermarket on the pastry packets - often there are awesome pie recipes on the packs. We've made a meat pie from the Coles branded pastry, was delicious.

My favourite is a chicken, leek and corn pie.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium leek, sliced thinly
2 rindless bacon rashers, sliced thinly
1 small can sweet corn
1 tablespoon plain flour
1 cup chicken stock
1/3 cup cream
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
3 cups coarsley chopped barbecued chicken
1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry, quartered

1. Preheat oven to 200C/ 180C fan forced

2. Heat oil in medium saucepan, cook leek, bacon and corn until leek softens. Stir in flour, cook stirring until mixture thickens and bubbles. Gradually add stock, cook stirring until mixture boils and thickens. Stir in cream, mustard and chicken.

3. Divide mixture among four 1-cup oven proof dishes, top each with a pastry quarter. Bake, uncovered in oven for about 20 minutes or until browned.

** The recipe has mushrooms in it instead of corn, but we've cooked both. If anyone reading wants to use mushrooms, use 200g and cut them in half, and follow the directions for the corn. Recipe is from Women's Weekly Cheap Eats.