Aussie Party Pies
Units
Temperature
Servings
Ingredients
Filling
- 30 ml neutral oil rounded
- 150 g onion, finely chopped rounded
- 600 g beef mince rounded
- 25 g flour rounded
- 20 g tomato paste rounded
- 30 ml Worcestershire sauce rounded
- 500 ml beef stock rounded
- to taste fine salt and black pepper rounded
Pastry
- 640 g puff pastry, ready-rolled, store-bought rounded
- 1 egg, beaten, for egg wash rounded
Method
Method
- Heat the oil in a wide pan over high heat. Brown the mince in two batches, breaking it up well, until deeply coloured. Set aside.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Sauté the onion for 5 minutes, until soft. Return the mince, stir in the flour, and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, and stock.
- Simmer uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the gravy is thick enough to hold a trail on the back of a spoon rather than running off it. Season with salt and pepper.
- Spread the filling on a tray and let it cool to room temperature, then chill for at least 30 minutes, until fully cold and firm.
- Pulse the cold filling briefly in a food processor, just 3 or 4 short pulses, until finer and more spreadable but not a paste. This keeps it from puncturing the thin puff pastry shells when pressed in.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan). Roll the puff pastry to about 3 mm thick. Cut 24 circles to line a mini muffin tin and 24 slightly smaller circles for lids.
- Press the larger circles into the tin, working them into the base and up the sides. Fill each with a heaped teaspoon of the pulsed filling.
- Top with the smaller circles, pressing the edges to seal. Brush with beaten egg and cut a small steam vent in each.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until puffed and deeply golden brown all over. Let cool for 5 minutes in the tin before turning out.
Notes
- Use puff pastry for both the base and the lid, not shortcrust. A shortcrust base this small tears and cracks when pressed into tiny cups; puff pastry is pliable enough to work into the corners and still bakes through in the short time these need.
- Pulse the filling before it goes in. Whole chunks of mince catch and tear the thin pastry as you press it into the cups; a briefly processed, finer filling packs in smoothly.
- Don’t overfill the cases. A heaped teaspoon is plenty; overfilled pies leak and the lids won’t seal properly.
- They freeze and reheat well. Freeze baked and cooled, then reheat from frozen at 180°C for about 12 minutes.
Ingredient substitutions
- Beef mince can be swapped for lamb mince.
- A pinch of curry powder stirred into the filling makes a curried version, also a party classic.
- Serve with tomato sauce for dipping.