Mince and Cheese Pies Recipe

 

 I’m sharing with you how to make a New Zealand classic, mince and cheese pies although these are a little fancier than your usual. Savoury beef mince filling topped with a sharp cheddar cheese in a buttery flaky pastry shell. Enjoy on their own make it a meal with some greens.

 Welcome to our website where I share with you how to make classic and simply delicious recipes, make sure to  follow my website for a new recipe each week. To start we’re going to make the savoury mince filling for the pies. Using a garlic crusher or a micro plane, peel prepare the two cloves of garlic. You can use a knife and finely chop it that way if you prefer but a micro plane or crusher does a much faster job of it. . Let me know in the comments below if you’re not from New Zealand of Australia if you’ve ever tried before. Pies are a pretty popular food here, although instead of sweet most of our pies are savoury. They’re usually individually sized and you can find them in pretty much every bakery and service station. Mince and cheese or steak and cheese is by far the most popular but there are also some pretty gourmet flavours out there like lamb and rosemary and steak and blue cheese. 

Heat a medium sized pan over high heat and add about a teaspoon of oil. As the pan is heating up add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds or until it becomes fragrant. I like to use a cast iron for this recipe as we will be simmering the filling for a while and cast iron is perfect for holding its heat. These pans are usually not too expensive and if you look after it well it should last you a lifetime so if you don’t have one or you don’t cook with yours often I definitely recommend you give it a go. When the garlic has become fragrant take your beef mince and using a knife seperate it into quarters. This just makes it easier to work with. We’ll need about 1 pound or 500 g of beef here, you’ll notice I give the recipe amounts in metric and imperial so no matter where you live in the world you should find this recipe easy enough to follow. Make sure you’re not using too lean of a beef mince or ground beef here - these are the same thing just different names in different parts of the world. Fat is flavour for this dish so you want about 10-15% fat content. Really lean beef just doesn’t have the same flavour or texture. Add the beef mince to the pan and start to break it up using the wooden spoon. Make sure your heat is on high here as we really want a good browning to the beef instead of letting it stew if the pan cools down too much. 

This recipe will make enough for 4 individual sized mince and cheese pies, it’s so easy to double the recipe if you’re feeding more people or these freeze perfectly to have for leftovers another time. You can make one larger sized pie if you would like, the recipe will stay pretty much the same you’ll just need a larger pie dish and a smaller amount of flaky puff pastry. We’re going for a really savoury flavour here so we’re going add a few different things to flavour the beef. In a small bowl measure out 3 teaspoon of dijon mustard. Dijon will give you the most flavour here but if you don’t have it you can use another type of mustard in its place. This is a really great way of packing in so much flavour by just adding a simple ingredient.  The mustard we need 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire or Worcestershire sauce, however you may pronounce it as well as 1 tablespoon of soy sauce. We’re not going for asian style flavours here so you may be a little confused with the soy sauce but it’s salty and has a real depth of flavour so its perfect to use in small quantities here instead of just plain salt. Once the beef has browned turned the heat to low and add these ingredients to the pan. Using the wooden spoon stir the mustard and sauces into the beef until they are well combined. The filing for these pies is a thick meat sauce, almost like bolognese but without the tomato flavour. To make the sauce part we’re going to be using beef stock and flour to thicken almost like a roux based sauce. Measure out a 1/3 cup of white flour and sprinkle it over the beef. With the heat on low so nothing burns, using the wooden spoon mix the flour in and cook it out for a few minutes. You’ll end up with a kind of stodgy thick mixture which doesn’t look the best but this is all okay. When the flour has been cooked out for a few minutes, lastly we want to season with some pepper, about 1 teaspoon. 

There’s no need to add salt here as we have already added the soy sauce which will do most of the seasoning. Once all of the ingredients has been added and everything has been cooked we can give it a taste and adjust any seasoning that s needed. Take your beef stock, you’ll need 2 cups or 500 mls, and add about half of it to the pan, using the wooden spoon to combine it with the beef. You should notice it start to thicken up straightaway. Once most of it’s been incorporated quickly follow with the second half and mix to combine. I’m just using a store bought beef stock here, you can use homemade if you have some. One thing I would watch out for here is the level of salt. Many stocks you buy come pre season so you do need to be careful when using it in a lot of dishes to make sure you don’t over season. If you can go for the low salt kind and add more of your own salt later on rather than finding out it’s too salty and there s not too much you can do to fix it. The beef filling should continue to thicken as it cooks. Keep the heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes to an hour or until it’s thickened enough kind of to the consistency of oatmeal or porridge. Before we make the pies we do need to cool the filling so it doesn’t melt and ruin the pastry. I’ll usually just put a lid on the pan and leave it to cool for an hour or so if I’m making it soon or if I’m making this well in advance I’ll place it into a bowl and cover and place in the fridge until I’m ready to use it. It does thicken a lot in the fridge so I would recommend letting it come up to room temperature before you do use it.

 When you’re ready to make the pies start to line your molds with the pastry. I’m using these little individual molds. You can make your own puff pastry if you prefer but that s one pastry I usually will stay away from. It takes about a day to make it properly with all of the fold and resting but if you do want to make your own another option is rough puff which uses a quicker method but doesn’t have the exact same result. I’ll usually just get the best quality store bought butter puff pastry I can find which is so much faster and easier. Place the pastry in each of your pie molds and top with the beef filling. It should be the perfect amount for four so just divide it evenly between them. Top your pies each with a few tablespoons or your favourite cheddar cheese along with a little mozzarella for the cheese pull. You really want to go with a strong flavour here to cut across the beef. I’ve cut my pastry into the perfect size for these pie molds but if you have extra hanging off the side just use a sharp knife or scissors to cut it off. Add the pastry tops to each of your pies and fold the sides up over. You can do a fancier design if you would like but I really like how this looks when it cooks and the pastry really puffs up. 

Before they go in the oven cut a steam hole at the top of each, this will stop any spillage over the sides so the steam has a place toe scape out. Place the pies on a baking sheet and place in a 200 C / 400 F oven for 20-30 minutes or until the pies are golden brown and puffed up. Leave them to cool a few minutes before serving. I hope you give these pies a try, they’re so delicious and not too difficult to make. Remember to  follow my my website for new recipes each week. Thank you so much for reading .