Who doesn’t love a party pie? These easy homemade pies are perfect for kid's birthday parties, or on a canape platter at a cocktail party. And unlike the supermarket version, you’ll know exactly what’s in them.
Ingredients
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 onion finely diced
- 1 leek finely sliced
- 1 celery stick finely diced
- 500 g beef mince
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 carrots grated
- 1 zucchini grated
- 1 tbs tomato paste
- 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
- 1 cup red wine
- 1 1/2 cups beef stock (liquid)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
- 1 tbs cornflour
- 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbs tomato sauce
- 3 sheets shortcrust pastry frozen
- 3 sheets puff pastry frozen
- 1 egg beaten
Method
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Step 1Filling: Heat oil in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, leek and celery and cook for 5 minutes until soft. Turn up the heat and add mince, then cook, stirring, until browned. Stir through garlic, carrots, tomato paste and balsamic, and allow to cook down for a further minute. Pour in red wine and allow to bubble up, then add 1 cup of stock, reserving remaining 1/2 cup. Bring to the boil, tuck in bay leaf and thyme, and season well with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat and leave to simmer for 1 hour.
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Step 2In a small bowl, combine cornflour with reserved stock. Stir through meat mixture. Add Worcestershire sauce and tomato sauces, and cook for a further five minutes. Allow to cool, then refrigerate until ready to assemble.
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Step 3Pastry: Defrost pastry sheets on bench top for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 180C. Using a scone cutter, or glass approximately 6-7cm in diameter, cut 16 circles from each sheet of shortcrust pastry. Then line two 24-hole mini muffin tins (or work in batches if you only have one tin). Fill with cooled meat mixture. Use beaten egg to brush around pastry edges.
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Step 4Cut circles from the puff pastry to match the diameter of the muffin holes - approximately 4cm diameter (I used an egg cup). Place on top of the meat mixture then press to seal. Brush the tops with more beaten egg, and use the sharp tip of a knife to press a small hole in each pie. Bake for 15-20 minutes until puffed and golden.
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Step 5Serve with tomato sauce or chutney.
Recipe Notes
You can use a regular 1/2 cup muffin tin if you want to serve larger pies. The mini muffin tins yield pies that are the perfect finger food size.
You can use puff pastry for the base as well as the pie top if that’s all you have. You will get a slightly different result, but it will still be delicious.
Freeze any leftover filling or, better yet, prepare a second tray of pies and freeze in the tins ready to be baked straight from the oven another time.
These little pies make great lunch box fillers - they can be enjoyed warm or at room temperature.
This recipe was created and photographed by Greer Worsley for Australia's Best Recipes.
If you like the sound of this recipe, you might also like these Homemade Sausage Rolls.
Recipe Reviews (1)
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