Aussie & New Zealander Meat Pies

These meat pies are common in Australia and New Zealand, where they are frequently sold at sports events and as a lunch or snack food item. I have several 5 inch pie pans and I got 4 pies from this amount of filling. Also good while watching a "Crocodile Dundee" movie, no matter where you are in the world.  

Ingredients:

1 pound ground chuck
1 medium onion, chopped rather finely
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil (only use 2 tablespoons if the meat is super lean, to prevent sticking)
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 cup beef stock
2/3 cup ketchup
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt (if the beef stock has a high level of salt, you can leave this out)
1 beaten egg (for brushing the crust) 
ketchup for top
store bought pie crust for bottom
store bought puff pastry for the top crust

Heat the oil in a skillet, over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the ground chuck, breaking up the meat into ever smaller pieces as it cooks. Cook until the onion softens and the beef is browning. Sprinkle the cornstarch over the meat/onion mixture, then stir in the beef stock and Worcestershire sauce. Stir in the ketchup and salt, reduce heat to low and let the mixture simmer until it thickens, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. The time on this will vary, but I cooked the mixture on low for about 20 minutes. The mixture needs to be pretty thick. Line each small pie pan with pie crust. Add enough of the meat mixture to fill each pan nearly to the top. Then press the puff pasty onto the upper edges of the pie crust to form the tops of the meat pies (you can brush some of the beaten egg around the edges of the pie crust to help seal the top when you place the puff pastry on). You might want to use a fork to press the pasty into the pie crust edges. Take a knife and make a small opening in the center of each pie for a vent for the steam. Brush some beaten egg onto the tops of each pie to help it brown. It's best to place the pies onto a baking sheet (line it with foil or parchment paper for easy clean up, if the filling spills over onto the tray). Put the pies into a preheated 425 F oven. Bake until the tops are nice and browned, approximately 25 to 35 minutes. (NOTE: You can piece together the pie crust and even the puff pastry topping, if need be. What I mean is, you can put your pie pan on the pie crust as a pattern and then cut around it, but once you fit the dough into the pans, if it needs a little more for a good edge, don't be afraid to use the inevitable pie crust scraps to make the edges. The same can be done with the puff pastry, but all of this will naturally depend upon the size pans you use.) 

A filled pie before I put on the puff pastry top. The yellow around the edge is some beaten egg for sealing 

The beaten egg on the puff pastry top

A finished pie with ketchup surrounding the vent opening... you can use less ketchup, but hey, I'm a ketchup fan...

WORD HISTORY:
Kangaroo-This word for the famous Australian marsupial was borrowed from "ganurru" or "gangurru," from Guugu Yimidhirr, a language of one of the Aboriginal peoples of northeastern Australia. This language is from the Pama-Nyungan language family of Australia. "Kangaroo" began its use in English in 1770, when English explorer Captain James Cook led an expedition, which included scientist/botanist Joseph Banks, that sailed to Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii (where Cook was killed several years later during a return trip), among other places, and where both men made notes, including the use of the word "kangaroo," "seemingly" initially spelled, "kanguru."