Cheater Meat Pies with Potato-Parsnip Mash

Lyndon loves a meat pie.  I’ve never been the biggest fan – mostly because I don’t love pastry crust (something I’m thankful for) or brown gravy (ewww….) but these things are a staple of the Australian diet, available at every “servo” (gas station) and corner shop. Lucky for me, he also likes a version made without the brown gravy, and a tomato-based sauce instead.  Making these into pies is time consuming, and in my books, unnecessary unless you need to sell them in a tidy little package.  They taste the same “deconstructed” and are infinitely easier to make.

Cheater Meat Pies

1 onion, chopped

1 T Olive Oil

1 lb. ground beef

1 can crushed tomatoes

pinch sea salt

1 T tomato paste

2 T Worcestershire Sauce

1 T Brown Sugar

1 1/2 cups frozen pea/carrot mix (or just peas, or just carrots, or fresh carrots…you get the point)

1 Sheet Puff Pastry

Preheat oven to 400.  Brown onion in oil till softened.  Add beef and cook till browned.  Add undrained canned tomatoes, salt, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar, stir till combined and let simmer 5 minutes to blend flavors.  Add frozen veggies and cook 5 more minutes, till warmed through.  If the mixture seems dry, add up to 1/2 cup beef stock.

In the meantime, cut up puff pastry into 6 squarish rectangle guys. Bake till browned and puffy.

Austin ate this plain with his mash.  Lyndon added heaps of hot sauce.  I added a good dose of horseradish because it sounded good – and it was!

Potato Parsnip Mash

I heart parsnips.  They are wonderful, and really spruce up your traditional mash.

4 small-medium parsnips, peeled and cut into 4 chunks

4 medium potatoes, cut into chunks (we leave peels on)

1/2 cup cottage cheese

splash milk

sea salt

Boil potatoes and parsnips till tender. Drain and mash, mix in milk and cottage cheese (option, but so tasty), add salt to tasty.

Serve potatoes with a scoop of meat pie, topped with a square of puff pastry.  We included a side of peas to get in another serving of veggies.

SO TASTY, FAST, and EASY!