Moms Meat Pie Recipes

MOM'S SHEPHERD'S PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Place the potatoes and water to cover in a large pot over high heat. Boil for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium high heat; drain excess fat.
• To the ground beef, add the tomato sauce, parsley, Worcestershire sauce to taste, salt, ground black pepper and green beans. In a separate small bowl, mix the flour with the 3 tablespoons water and stir into the beef mixture.
• Stir all together well. Drain the potatoes, mash and spread over the beef mixture Place 2 to 3 vent holes through the mashed potatoes.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 minutes. Brush the milk over the potatoes for the last 5 minutes of baking.

MEAT PIE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Place the potato in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain, mash, and set aside.
• Meanwhile, crumble the ground beef and pork into a large saucepan, and add the garlic, onion and water. Season with mustard powder, thyme, cloves and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring to crumble the meat and mix in the spices, until the meat is evenly browned. Remove from the heat, and mix in the mashed potato.
• Place one of the pie crusts into a 9 inch pie plate. Fill with the meat mixture, then top with the other pie crust. Prick the top crust a few times with a knife to vent steam. Crimp around the edges using the tines of the fork, and remove any excess dough. Cover the edges of the pie crust with aluminum foil.
• Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the crust has browned. Serve by itself, or with a beef gravy.

MOM'S MEAT PIE (TOURTIèRE à MA MèRE)

Steps:

• In a large pan, mix together meats, spices and water.
• Bring to a boil, cook at medium heat uncovered until mixture is cooked but still moist (approximately 20 minutes).
• Line pie pan with one crust and fill with meat mix.
• Top with second crust and pinch to seal.
• Cut slits in top of crust to vent, at this point you might want to get creative by adding any christmas decoration with leftover pie crust using a cookie cutter.
• Brush crust with beaten egg and place filled pie pan on cookie sheet to catch any drips.
• Bake at 350F for 30 minutes until crust is golden.

MOM'S APPLE PIE I

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (225 degrees C). Fit bottom crust into a 9 inch pie plate.
• In a small bowl, mix together sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Place sliced apples in a large bowl and sprinkle with sugar mixture. Toss until apples are thoroughly coated. Spoon apples into pan.
• Dot apples with butter or margarine, then sprinkle with whiskey. Cover with top crust. Seal edges and cut steam vents in top.
• Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Lower temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake an additional 40 minutes. Serve warm.

MOM'S MEAT PIES

Steps:

• Cut pie crust to make 4 pieces.
• For each pie crust put equal amounts ground beef, onion and potato, season with salt and pepper to your liking. All ingredients should be raw.
• Fold each individual pie to make a little pocket.
• Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until crust is light brown.
• When we were kids we would eat this with ketchup, my husband likes it with gravy.

FRENCH MEAT PIE

Steps:

• Dissolve the Better Than Bouillon chicken into the hot water. Set aside.
• In a large pot or Dutch oven, over medium heat. Cook the onion and celery for about 5 minutes to slightly soften. Stir with a wooden spoon to not burn.
• Add the chicken stock mixture, ground pork, ground beef, and poultry seasoning. Cook over medium heat until the meat is cooked, about 20 minutes.
• Add the breadcrumbs, allspice, ground cloves, and black pepper. Stir to combine. Let cook another 10 minutes.
• Add salt to taste. Should only need a pinch of salt. (remember bouillon and breadcrumbs already have salt in them)
• Let cool completely. Add to unbaked pie shells. Either homemade pie crust or store-bought. Top with pie crust. Roll edges under and pinch around the entire pie. Use a sharp knife to slice a slit in the top of each pie.
• Brush with egg wash. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven until the crust is nicely browned. About 30 to 45 minutes.
• Makes two 9-inch pies.

MEAT PIES

Steps:

• For the filling: Combine the beef and lamb in a large skillet and cook over high heat until browned and well done. Drain and reserve the drippings. Place the meat in a medium mixing bowl.
• Using the same skillet, caramelize the onions in the meat drippings. When the onions are nice and brown, remove them from the drippings and mix into the meat mixture.
• While the onions are caramelizing, preheat a small skillet with the corn oil. Add the pine nuts and toast until golden brown (they burn quickly, so don't walk away from them). Add the pine nuts to the meat mixture along with the lemon juice, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and combine well.
• For the dough: Dissolve the yeast, salt and sugar in 1 cup of the warm water. Stir to dissolve the 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 dough balls, cover and let stand for 15 minutes.
• Lightly flour a large work surface and roll out each dough ball until approximately 1/8-inch thick. Cut the dough into circles with a 5-inch 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.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat 2 sheet pans with nonstick cooking spray.
• Working quickly, place 5 of the rounds at a time, on a separate work surface. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the meat filling in the center of each round. Grabbing the opposite sides of the circle, pinch together in the middle. Then, pinch the rest of the dough closed, forming a triangular pie. Place on the prepared sheet pans. 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.

MY MOM'S FRENCH CANADIAN TOURTIèRE

Steps:

• For the Pastry: Follow the instructions for making the pie pastry from either of the recipe links above. Chill the dough until required.
• For the Tourtière Filling: In a Dutch Oven or large saucepan, place the ground meat, breaking it apart with a large fork.
• Cover the meat with water, or chicken stock or beef stock, just barely above the surface of the meat. Bring the mixture to a boil, then, lower the heat to a simmer. Mash the mixture with a potato masher to separate and blend the meat together.
• Add the onion, garlic clove, chicken bouillon cube, sage, poultry seasoning, garlic salt, pepper and seasoned salt to the mixture. Continue to simmer, uncovered, for 1 ½ hours. (You are essentially braising the meat).
• The moisture will evaporate and become absorbed into the meat mixture during the braising process, creating a savoury meat filling. CHEF TIP: Do not drain all of the fat from the mixture as this is what helps bind the tourtière filling.
• Crush the soda crackers and stir into the meat mixture.
• Taste the meat mixture for seasoning and adjust (tweak) as necessary. It should taste quite savoury. Tweaking ingredients could include, according to your taste: 1 -2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce; a drop or two of lemon juice; a grind or two more of pepper; 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard; 1/2 teaspoon celery salt; additional sage, poultry seasoning and or 1/2 teaspoon summer savoury.
• Let the meat mixture cool completely before filling the pie shells. The mixture should be quite thick. If you are not ready to make the pies; refrigerate the mixture. CHEF TIP: For longer storage, I measure the amount of filling that I will need to fill a shallow pie shell (about 1 lb of filling/500 g) and seal it using a vacuum sealer system.
• Line two 8 inch pie shells with pastry. Divide the tourtière filling between the two pies and spread evenly. Brush the outer edges of the pie crust with water and place the top crust onto the pie and press the edges gently to seal.
• Trim the edges and crimp the edges with a fork like my Mom did or create your own scalloped edge. Cut a few steam vents in the top of the crust. Decorate the pie, if desired.
• Bake in a preheated 425°F oven (400°F if using a Convection oven) for 10 minutes and then lower the temperature to 375°F (350°F if using a Convection oven) for a further 25 minutes or until the crust is golden.
• To Serve: Cut each 8 " pie into 6 - 8 pieces. Serve the tourtière warm (or cold the next day). Refrigerate any leftovers. Enjoy!