Meat pie is the quickest ever meal, and the only one where I use a processed product. The Pillsbury store bought pie crust saves a ton of time when I really only have a few minutes to spare. I have never used a boxed cake mix, and am ashamed to admit I use this pie crust, but it works too well in a bind.
This is a comforting one dish meal, sometimes I add a handful of frozen peas right before it goes in the oven, other times I add in a crushed garlic clove once the meat is browned. The basic recipe is below, feel free to add your own spice or twist to suit your family’s taste. Below makes one meat pie, but I usually double it.
Ingredients:
Half of 1 medium onion
1-1.5 lbs 85% lean ground beef
3 small or 2 medium carrots trimmed and cut into small chunks
1 tbs tomato paste
8 oz. beef stock (homemade or the Kitchen Made box)
1 1/2 tbs cornstarch or a few shakes of Wondra four
1/2 tsp dried Thyme
1 tsp salt (if you use low sodium stock)
1/2 tsp ground pepper
Handful of frozen baby sweet peas, optional
1 box pillsbury pie crust (includes 2 discs)
Egg wash (1 egg plus 1 tbs milk or water beaten together)
Needed for this recipe (also meat, egg and cornstarch)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put the diced onions, carrots and the ground beef in a large skillet. Cook on med-high flame, continually breaking up the meat for the first couple minutes, then flipping it for a few more minutes until it is browned. If you have a lot of fat in the pan, dump some out (don’t dump hot oil into the garbage, cool it off first).
Take your pie crust and put one disc at the bottom of a pie dish, put a bit of the cornstarch or Wondra flour on the pie crust (this will help it not get too soggy during cooking).
Add the tomato paste, beef stock and seasonings into the meat and cook for 5 more minutes until the four taste is gone. Taste for seasoning and add more salt if necessary, dump in a handful of frozen peas if you are using. Pour into the pie crust.
Add the top pie crust, crimp the sides.
Put the egg wash on top of the pie and use a knife to slit 3-4 small openings to let the steam escape. Cook for 30 minutes then check. If the top crust is browned you are good, if not, cook for another 5 minutes or until browned. Cool for a few minutes then serve!
Great served with Blumenkhol or mashed butternut squash