Mexican Beef Pies …. and last weeks foodie wanderings.

I had a lovely day-trip to Melbourne last week on the train with my girl and one of her friends. A couple of months ago I’d booked tickets to see the Titanic Artefacts exhibition (@ Melbourne Museum) and also ‘ABBAWORLD’ (an interactive exhibition) at Federation Square. I forgot to take my camera, but did end up taking a number of mobile phone photo’s (some of which I’m sharing with you today).

Our Titanic ‘session’ was at 10am last Thursday and ABBAWORLD was @ 2pm. With two hours allocated for each event, there was of course plenty of time to sit down, take a breather and have lunch inbetween! As it happens we lunched at ‘Transport Hotel’ - Federation Square, which is actually a multi-level venue with more than one dining option. In 2008, hubby and I had dinner at the exquisite ‘Taxi – dining room’ (level 1), with beautiful Melbourne ‘night lights’ views (being the Arts Centre & Flinders Street Station and St Kilda Boulevard below). I think it was the night before we saw Michael Buble in concert for the first time and we spent 2 nights in the city as a bit of a ‘getaway’. Anyway, I was influenced to try ‘Taxi’ on Derryn Hinch’s glowing recommendation (he reviews eateries on his website under the tab ‘Hungry Hinch’). No regrets, it was wonderful (-yes, pricey with average main meals around the $44-$50 mark and entree’s around $25 & desserts $20 but it was ‘fine dining’ & I think worth experiencing if you’re foodies like us. ‘Taxi’ staff are faultless and make you feel like royalty.

Anyway, in the same building (ground level) you can buy the Transport Hotel’s gastropub lunches and at last I got to check them out! With great city views afforded by large floor-to-ceiling windows -we ordered lunch, paid and took possession of our ‘beeper’. When lunch is ready your individual pager goes off and the only way to stop it is to exchange it for your food.

My girl had the pie of the day which was ‘beef and red wine’ +chips and her friend and I ordered off the laminated menu board. I had the vegetarian lentil shepherd’s pie and teen #2 chose the crispy beef wrap with chilli sauce and fries. All of our meals were $15 each (just a co-incidence) and we thoroughly enjoyed them (and couldn’t finish them)! My girl’s pie (in a ceramic dish with puff pastry lid) – influenced me to make this weeks Mexican Beef Pies. Ok, I also had a tin of kidney beans in the pantry and there was a recipe for a Mexican Shepherd’s Pie on the label. I didn’t follow the label recipe..but in my mind I began putting a new one together.. using my usual chilli-con-carne recipe (with cocoa) which I like to dollop over homemade nacho’s. My generous ramekin’s made large, individual pies, but you can improvise. I also have proper, smaller ‘regular’ pie tins but since the Transport Hotel’s lunch pies made a statement with their size – I decided to follow suit. If you don’t have individual dishes and don’t want the expense of them, use a round or square baking dish and make one generous family pie!

Chilled water & our beeper. The mobile phone photo’s turned out pretty good because there was excellent light in the building!

Girls faces are censored because it’s easier than asking for permission (from friend +parent) on the one hand and my girl, on this occasion wanted a level of anonymity too. We started off at the front windows, but it was a bit breezy, so we moved to the side (facing the Yarra river).

Here’s teen #2′s Crispy beef wrap with sweet chilli sauce and fries. $15. Apparantly it was very good. These little containers of sauce remind me of how condiments are served in the U.S.A. I remember fondly the first and only ‘Clambake’ meal I’ve ever eaten, back in 2001 (for my sisters birthday, in Seattle, USA). A large bucket of steamed shellfish was upturned onto our paper-covered table (including corn on the cob). We wore big bibs and there were little plastic containers like the one above.. filled with melted butter for ‘dipping’. It was a ‘hands-on’ dinner..and the only cutlery I remember was something like nut-crackers.. to crack open the shells on your crab claws.. as you do.

One of the ‘specials’ on the day. Beef and Red Wine pie with chips. (Influencer of this weeks recipe). This was a huge hit with the girls. Even with tummy’s bursting they wanted to continue with this pie. At first we thought the chips portion was stingey but even this amount didn’t get eaten!

My ‘Vegetarian lentil shepherd’s pie’ (should have been called a ‘cottage pie’..I can hear my husband saying it..because a true shepherd’s pie is made with lamb). And no, I’m not a vegetarian but hubby and I enjoy vego meals as often as I remember to make them. So, back to my lunch.. there was a generous amount of potato and melted cheese and lentils! For me, the lentils could have been cooked/softened a bit more and less salt could have been used..but otherwise it was hearty and lovely. The vegies were only ‘just cooked’..and had a crunch factor. If you can see the condiment on the side, I ordered some wasabi mayo (which was free) so we could dip chips into it..I also put a little on my vegies. This dish was also $15.

At this point everyone is eating off everyone elses plate.. but not really able to fit much more in. This is pretty much how we left the table.

Mexican Beef Pies

Makes four large individual pies or 1 generous family sized pie

-500gm premium beef mince (ground beef)

-1 tiny can of corn (72.5 grams-ish) – equivalent to half a cup of kernels

-1 can of kidney beans (size: 420gm) – substitute with white beans like cannelini (which are softer and my preference though less ‘Mexican’)

-2 tablespoons tomato paste (or 1 sachet of ‘Fountain’ brand tomato paste – I keep a box of sachet’s handy in the pantry and little ‘Leggo’ tubs too because my large, glass jars of tomato paste never get used up, but instead go mouldy)

-1 sachet Old El Paso salt reduced Taco Seasoning (35gm)

-1 flat teaspoon cocoa (not drinking chocolate with added sweetener)

-1 tin of crushed tomotoes (approx 420gm)

-3/4 cup red wine

-1 cup grated tasty cheese

-1 cup water

-1 teaspoon powdered beef stock

-1 egg yolk

-4 sheets of puff pastry (up to this amount..depends on the size of your individual pie tins ..OR if doing one family-size pie, you may need to join two or more sheets together)

-Rice bran oil spray (or other cooking oil spray)

-For serving: Light sour cream (I like to dollop a tablespoon on top of each pie, Weight Watchers brand)

-Sprinkling of sweet paprika on top of sour cream

-Optional: green salad ingredients as a side dish

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-Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius (fan forced) or 220 (no fan)

-In a large pan, fry mince and stir often, breaking any large chunks – no need to brown or cook all the way through

-Add tomato paste & cocoa, then continue cooking/stirring for a couple of minutes

-Add red wine & beef stock powder, tinned tomatoes, stir & bring to a simmering ‘bubble’ for another 5 minutes

-Add taco seasoning & 3/4 cup of the water, drained and well-rinsed beans and corn, stir well

-Partially cover with a lid or loosely with a sheet of tin foil & simmer (so it’s just bubbling) for 15 minutes

-Mix teaspoon of cornflour with remaining 1/4 cup water until dissolved, add to beef mixture continuously stirring until it thickens a bit more

-Take off heat (and lid/tin foil) and let cool as you wait for pastry sheets to defrost

-Prepare 4 individual pie ramekins by spraying with oil – alternatively if doing one large, family pie, spray a round casserole or baking type dish

-Divide Mexican beef mixture evenly into individual dishes

-Top with grated tasty cheese

-Place a sheet of pastry on top of each dish and lightly press down around the edges

-Using kitchen scissors, cut away excess pastry – be sure to leave a generous amount of ‘overhang’ like a tablecloth. These are rustic-style pies with a generous ‘pie lid’.. and the pastry will shrink a little when baked anyway

-Using fork tines, press all around the edges of your ramekin or dish.. to make a continuous pattern and further ‘seal’ your lids (see blog photo’s)

-Brush each pie with beaten egg yolk (this will make the lids shiny and add a nice golden colour)

-Place pies in oven until tops are golden brown (around 10 to 15 min’s depending on your oven)

-Rest pies 5 min’s before serving

-Serve with a dollop (tablespoon) of light sour cream sprinkled with sweet paprika

-Optional: also serve with some fresh guacomole if you have an avocado handy.. and also a green salad

Pies are glazed with egg yolk.

Leftover pie, (next day) warmed and served with plain, skim yoghurt. Was yum!