I grew up having meat pie every once in a while because my mother used to make it. I think true French-Canadian meat pie might have ground pork in it. I don't remember if my mother used to make it with beef or pork or a combination, but I make it with ground beef.
Ever since the farmers' market started in July, I've been getting free-range, all-natural meat there. We're now eating less meat, but better quality, locally produced meat.
Filling
1 large potato, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef
2 teaspoons dried sage
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
Add potato to a medium saucepan and cover with at least an inch of water. Cover and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-high and keep partially covered until potato is tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Drain. Mash potato coarsely with a masher or fork.
While potato is boiling, heat oil over medium-high heat in a large saute pan. Add onion and saute for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until onion starts to soften. Add garlic and saute for another minute, stirring constantly. Add ground beef. Use spoon to break up the meat. Add sage, thyme, salt, and pepper. Stir often. When meat is fully cooked, skim most of the fat out of the pan. Remove from heat and add mashed potato. Stir until meat mixture and potato are well combined and mixture binds together. Set aside.
Crust
2 1/2 cups flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces.
6-8 tablespoons cold water
Add flour and salt to a food processor. Pulse a few times to blend. Add butter to flour and salt and process until it resembles crumbs. Add water 2 tablespoons at a time. Process until the dough sticks together and starts to form a ball in the food processor. Split the dough in half.
Assembly
1 egg, beaten (optional)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out one dough half large enough to cover a 9" glass pie plate. Add meat filling. Roll the other half of the dough large enough to cover the filling and edge of the pie plate. Fold the rolled out dough in half and cut 4 or 5 slits diagonally in the center of the fold to allow steam to escape as the pie bakes. Place the dough on top of the filling. Trim the extra dough to about 1/2 - 1" of the edge of the pie plate. Fold the edges under within the pie plate and pinch the dough along the edge of the pie plate. Optionally, brush the top of the crust with the beaten egg. Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes or until crust is golden. Makes 6 servings.
Another delicious recipe from bon appetit! I especially enjoyed the raita. I basically just followed the recipe tonight, so I'm just going to link to it here and skip typing it in. The only change I made was to not bother using oil when cooking them. With a nonstick pan, I didn't see the need. Aside from that, I'll just caution that with my pan and my stove, cooking over medium-low heat was much better than medium heat.
