Doges eye

I love making meat pies, sometimes I avoid it because of the two-stage cooking process.  Its not that hard really, but sometimes I just don't have the time to cook the filling then bake the pie.  I had a big 1kg pack of mince in the freezer and no hankerings for spag bol or lasagne, so meat pie it was.  I have included the recipe for this one below, it was a small pie, with half the filling going into the freezer for another pie at a later date.  I often would add about 500g diced chuck steak and simmer the meat mixture for a couple of hours (if you do this you need more gravox and water).  But if you just use mince like this one, you can make it much faster.

• 1kg beef mince
• 1 sheet frozen shortcrust pastry
• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry
• 1 jar vegetable baby food (or if your hungry mouths are not so fussy just use chopped up carrots and peas)
• 1 brown onion diced
• 1 cup water
• 3-4 tablespoons gravox powder
• 1/2 cup grated cheese
• Milk for brushing the pastry

1. Preheat oven to 180 C
2. Spray a small baking dish (if you use a pie dish you can probably use all of this filling)
3. Line with the shortcrust pastry, trimming the edges and making sure it fully covers the dish
4. Line with baking paper and put in pie weights (or uncooked rice if you haven't any)
5. Place in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes
6. Meanwhile in a large fry pan, brown the onion 
7. Then add the mince and cook through
8. Pour in baby food/vegetables
9. Sprinkle in the Gravox
10. Add the water bit by bit, let it simmer for 5-10 minutes adding more water if needed to get the perfect meat pie consistency (just a bit runny)
11. Add the 1/2 the pie filling to the pre-baked pastry shell which is still in the dish and the other half goes into a container ready for the freezer for another time
12. Sprinkle the cheese over the top
13. Cover with the puff pastry, sealing the edges roughly with a fork
14. Using the fork poke a few steam holes in the top of the pastry
15. Using a pastry brush, paint the top of the pie
16. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until the pastry on the top of the pie is golden and crumbly