Weeknight Beef Hand Pies
These easy weeknight hand pies are the perfect tasty meal – and a great way to use any leftovers you have on hand! Best of all, they only take 30 minutes to make and the whole family will love them!
I wanted to join in with the Fandom Foodies once again this month – I just can’t help but continue my love of combining my love of books and movies with my love of food. #cantstopwontstop This month they were giving a nod to both Halloween and Tim Burton with Burtoween!
I have always enjoyed the quirky fun movies that Tim Burton makes, but I have definitely never made any recipes inspired by him. In fact, I had to really do some thinking on what I wanted to make. But in the end, I could not Mrs Lovett’s Meat Pies from Sweeney Todd out of my mind. Not only are Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp some of my favorite actors, but I love the dark yet fun mood that Sweeney Tood Portrays. But, meat pies are not really your typical weeknight fare. They often take several hours – the time you sear and braise the meat, make the perfect gravy, and make the pie crust from scratch – these delicious treats are totally not meant for the average Tuesday night.
My solution to making these quick and easy is to use ground meat instead of chunks. This seriously reduces the cooking time, and doesn’t require you to braise (and therefore) tenderize pieces of meat. This is also a PERFECT way to use any leftovers you happen to have on hand! Just dice anything leftover meat into small pieces and mix with the rest of the ingredients.
These meat pies are also a great way to use leftover veggies you have on hand! Add in any extra veggies you have on hand – frozen, shredded, diced, even baby food works (I won’t tell if you don’t). I also find that using ready made puff pastry here is totally key. Yes, I know, I run a “from scratch” food blog – but, don’t judge me here, I find that store bought puff pastry is actually pretty good. Its easy, its cheap, and it does a decent job, especially when its a weeknight and you want a good meal on the table RIGHT NOW. So…. I am ok using it in the recipe. It’s either that or make a 30 minute recipe an hour long recipe, or wake up at 5 am to make your puff pastry dough in the morning. I know which one I would choose…
I think Mrs. Lovett would be proud of these – just use whatever you have laying around and make it work! They are the best pies this side of.. anywhere! Check out the other awesome Tim Burton inspired recipes.
Weeknight Beef Hand Pies
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef or 2 cups of whatever leftover meat you have on hand
- 1 onion diced
- 4 oz mushrooms diced
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- ⅓ cup frozen peas
- 4 slices applewood smoked bacon cooked and crumbled
- 2 TBSP tomato puree
- 1 tsp dried sage
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup beef stock or ale
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
- 1 box 2 sheets puff pastry
- course salt and eggs white for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In a large cast iron skillet, brown the ground beef (If you are using leftover meat that is already cooked, skip them step).
- Add in the onions, mushrooms, carrots, and peas and cook, stirring often, until the veggies are soft, about 10 minutes.
- Add in the tomato puree, dried sage, dried thyme, salt and pepper and stir.
- In a small cup, mix together the flour, milk and ale or stock to a paste. Pour it into the pan and stir. Allow to simmer for a few minutes to thicken.
- Stir in the parmesan cheese and the crumbled bacon.
- Roll out two sheets of puff pastry and cut out circles that fit into a muffin pan and that will be the tops.
- Spray the muffin pan and press the bottom pieces of puff pastry into each muffin well.
- Fill with the meat mixture.
- Top with the remaining circles of puff pastry, using an egg white wash to seal the edges and to brush over the top.
- Sprinkle with course salt.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the puff pastries are golden brown.
- Remove and allow to cool for a few minutes, and then enjoy!
Nutrition
This looks fun and fairly simple, but rather than cooking directions, you have the list of ingredients twice. Do you have the directions to include with your ingredients?
I was looking for the same thing! How long do you think you have to cook these?
Hi Alie and Susan! Thanks for alerting me that the recipe wasn’t on there! For some reason it wasn’t displaying correctly, but its all fixed now! I hope you make them and enjoy them! 🙂