Australian Meat Pie

Holy wow this was good. I mean, it is pretty hard to go wrong with something that consists of beef, gravy, and puff pastry. Oh...and there are no vegetables. It kind of gives me a new found respect for the Australian people. I picked up the recipe here, and unlike other recipes, I used it pretty much in it's entirety because...hey...how can you go wrong with meat pie?

3 pounds beef chuck, diced 1/2-inch cubes (I used stew beef)
1/2 cup flour (you really need more than this--more like maybe a cup)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon celery seed
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
4 cups beef or chicken stock
4 sheets puff pastry
1 egg, beaten, to glaze crust

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Dredge beef in flour and sear in oil in a hot pan. Add the garlic and onion and saute for 4 more minutes. Add the spices, Worcestershire and soy sauce and cook until the liquid is almost dissolved. Add the stock and cook until the meat is coated in thick gravy. Transfer to a container and cool.

Roll 2 sheets of pastry to 1/2-inch thickness. Line 8-inch tart molds with the rolled pastry. Line the pastry with tin foil and prebake for about 8 minutes. Let cool.

Roll out the remaining pastry sheets and cut lids for the pies. Fill baked shells with the meat mixture and cover with the cut pastry lids. Attach lids with egg wash. Brush the tops with the remaining egg wash and sprinkle with black pepper.

Bake for 8 minutes or until golden brown

And you get a fabulous meat pie! Next week is Austria....like Australia they didn't have a national dish. That said, Wiener Schnitzel is BASICALLY their national dish. So, I suppose we'll go with it...and, really, why turn down the opportunity for more breaded meat?