Meat pies

Method

Meat pies

For the filling:
1) Combine lamb and beef in a large frying pan and cook over high heat. When meat is well done, drain but retain the drippings. Place meat in a medium-sized mixing bowl.

2) Using the same pan, caramelise the onions in the meat drippings. When the onions are nice and brown, remove them from the drippings and mix into the meat mixture.

3) While the onions are caramelising, preheat a small frying pan with the corn oil. Add the pine nuts, toast until golden brown (they burn quickly, so don't walk away from them).

4) When the nuts are browned, add them to the meat mixture along with the lemon juice, salt, cumin and nutmeg and combine well.

For the pies:
1) Dissolve the yeast, salt and sugar in 250ml of the warm water. Stir to dissolve yeast. Add the flour to a large mixing bowl, stir in the yeast mixture and combine well. Add additional water, as needed, to make a medium-sized, stiff dough ball. Knead thoroughly. Cut into 2 equal sized dough balls, cover and let stand for 15 minutes.

2) Lightly flour a large work surface and roll out each dough ball until approximately 0.3cms thick. Cut dough into circles with a 12.5cm round cutter. Cover and let stand a second time for 15 minutes. Try to get as many round dough pieces as you can, any excess dough can be rolled up and saved for more meat pies.

3) Preheat oven to 180 degrees C/Gas 4.

4) Working quickly, place 5 of the rounds, at a time, on a separate work surface. Spoon a heaped tbsp of the meat filling onto the center of each round. Grabbing opposite sides of the circle, pinch together in the middle. Then, pinch the rest of the dough closed, forming a triangular pie. Place on baking trays that have been coated with nonstick spray.

5) When all the pies have been formed, place the pans in the preheated oven and bake until the edges and bottoms of each pie begin to brown. Rotate the pans from bottom to top during baking. Bake until the pies are golden brown.

6) Remove to a serving platter and serve.

This recipe was provided by professional chefs and has been scaled down from a bulk recipe provided by a restaurant. The Food Network Kitchens chefs have not tested this recipe, in the proportions indicated, and therefore, we cannot make any representation as to the results.