I started making these for the kids but had to triple up because everyone wants them now.I have given my version of leftover meat filling, but you may have your own ideas
Small Pies
The Fillng
After a meaty meal there is always something leftover like BBQ Beef , Roast Pork or Chicken. Making pies with these often resuls in a tastier meal than the original. Saute one onion and a couple of cloves of garlic in some butter and olive oil until soft. Now turn the heat up and fry the diced meat until well heated through. Adjust for salt and pepper. Add a half a chopped chili and some chopped fresh time. Baste for a while and keep moist by adding some stock, or wate, if you do not have stock. When heated through and basted for a few minutes, ad some fresh, or tinned if you do not have fresh, mushrooms. Let all the moisture evaporate until you have a firm filling. Stir frequently. Remove from the heat to let it cool and set a bit as this will make it easier to use as a filling.
The Pastry
Whisk 10 g yeast and 10 g sugar in enough lukewarm water to dissolve the sugar and yeast. Leave until the mixture is foaming
500 g flour
150 g butter softened
2 eggs lightly whisked
10 g salt
Mix all the ingredients including the yeast together. You should have a stiff dough like a pasta dough after kneading it a bit. Let the dough stand in a warm spot until the yeast is activated. Roll the dough out thinly – less that 1 mm thick. I do mine with a pasta machine setting on 5 . Cut circles with a cookie cutter about 100 mm in diameter. Put about 1 tablespoon of filling in the center and fold the dough to close after painting the edges lightly with some egg to bind – press closed with the back of a fork. Now fold the wings in and secure the to end together with some egg again. Place in a well buttered muffin pan and bake at 200 C until brown on top. Eat warm or cold.
Back Yard Farmer 
I imagine these are REALLY good!!
They are great – at the rate we are going we will not have any left for the winter though. Next season I shall make 3x as much.
And yes…all those exclamation marks are completely appropriate, this is that good of a recipe 🙂
😉
Now these are a culinary triumph! I am SO going to make these for Steve. I love that the pastry is yeasted but still buttery enough to brown nicely and I love that the filling can be customised completely. I could even try these with coconut oil instead of the butter and make a vegan filling and most of all I LOVE the shape! You are a genius! 🙂
We had them cold for lunch today with a salad and they were very good still
Steve was drooling when I was explaining your post. I think you might be onto a winner in our household 🙂
Tell me when you have tried it. Regards Back Yard Farmer
I just shared the recipe with a good blogging friend and she is very keen to make them as well. Its a most interesting recipe and the pastry is the clincher…yeasted, rolled out like pasta and containing enough butter to make it deliciously short, a winner in my books! 🙂
You are correct the pastry is wonderful – have a go!
I am going to. I have some leftover unctuous bolognaise sauce that I reckon would be delicious in these little babies 🙂 My friend is MOST excited about giving them a go 🙂
You are so right – just make sure you make bolognese and not bolognaise (:
LOL! And here I was, a cook in a past life 😉 Oh well… My spelling was never up to all that much in the first place (stupid spellcheck should KNOW what I mean 😉 )
I suppose it is only bolognese in Italy though – where did you cook?
This harks back to ‘our hazelnut harvest’ I have opened all 7 of the nuts and they were all empty. What did you find? I have not read up anything about hazelnut farming yet but seeing as I have a wee tree………
How many trees do you have? You need a pollinator before the nuts will set properly. I bought a Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’ (twisted hazelnut) that acts as a good pollinator and it obviously worked as I have one nut :). I am not sure if it contains anything yet though so don’t call me on that! 😉
I have one. there may be another in the neighbourhood. I give up, anyway, and will enjoy it for the foliage!
They are very easy to grow from the nuts if you put them into a bag of potting mix and tuck it away in an old esky over winter. Come next spring there will be lots of little rootlets and you can pot them up. I have been growing my own nut trees this way for a while now and have walnuts, hazelnuts and chestnuts all grown from seed. You are in NZ so I won’t ask you if the tree got enough water 😉
Thanks