Aussie Meat Pies, Made Quick

This afternoon found me scanning the Publix weekly ads online, trying to think of stuff to make for the week. Ground chuck was on sale, so I decided to pick some up, even though I usually shy away from fatty ground beef. I found this recipe for faux Aussie Meat Pies after a quick flip through Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats and decided it was worth a try for two reasons: (a) I could cook the beef and drain off the fat before commencing with the rest of the recipe, and (b) it uses luscious, delicious puff pastry for the pie component.

Since I've never been to Australia, I have no idea if this bears much similarity to a real Australian meat pie; considering that it is courtesy of Rachael Ray, probably not :-) There actually is a place called Australian Bakery Cafe in East Atlanta that specializes in meat pies. I need to check it out sometime!

1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 and 1/3 pounds ground chuck
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon grill seasoning
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, or whatever your package of puff pastry calls for.

Lay out the sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured cutting board. Cut it into 6 roughly equal sized rectangles and arrange on a cookie sheet. Season the pastry pieces with a little salt and pepper, and bake according to package directions or until golden brown all over, about 12 minutes. Cool on a cookie rack for 5 minutes.

Warm up a deep-sided pan over medium-high heat. When it's hot, add the beef and break it up well as it browns. When the beef is no longer pink, drain it in a colander suspended over a bowl to catch the grease. You can dispose of the grease in your trash can when it has cooled down a little. Place the drained beef back in the pan and add the onion and garlic. Saute over medium-high heat until the onion softens, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour and let cook for a couple of minutes. In a small bowl, combine the Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, and brown sugar, then whisk in the beef broth. Pour the broth mixture into the pan and stir to incorporate. Sprinkle the grill seasoning over the beef and turn down the heat to low. Let the contents of the pan simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.

To serve, gently pull apart one of the puff pastry pieces in half, like a hamburger bun. Place the bottom piece of the pastry in a shallow bowl. Spoon over roughly 1/6th of the meat mixture and crown with the bronzed, puffy peaked top piece of the pastry. Dig in!



Rating: This is awesome

This was a true 30 Minute Meal (I usually find that RR's concoctions may take 30 minutes in theory, but not practice), and it was very satisfying. She wrote that it tastes like "a ritzy version of a sloppy joe." I can't put it any better than that!

Minute Steaks

This is another dish from my childhood; my father used to make it often. Minute steaks, also known as cube steaks, aren't steak at all; they're tenderized cuts of top round beef. They're fabulously inexpensive (sometimes you can even find them less per pound than ground beef), which make them very attractive when you need a cheap red meat fix. However, you have to braise them for a good length of time to break down the connective tissue. Your patience will be rewarded with fork-tender meat and a tasty, savory gravy.

1 - 1.5 pounds cube steak
1 medium onion, chopped finely
4 cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups beef broth
2 cups water
1 tablespoon grill seasoning
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped (optional)

Warm up one tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat in a large, deep sided pan. Add the onions and cook gently until they start to turn translucent and soft, about 10 minutes. Throw in the garlic and cook until fragrant, another 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and pour the onions and garlic into a small bowl.

Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and warm up over high heat. Season both sides of the steaks liberally with salt and pepper. Spread the flour out in a plate, and sprinkle in about a teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Toss the seasonings through the flour, and dredge each piece of steak in it, shaking off the excess. Lay the steaks in the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side to get a nice sear. Once both sides are browned, pour in the beef broth, water, and the onion/garlic mixture. Stir in the grill seasoning. Let the liquid come up to a boil, then turn the heat down to low and clamp on a lid. Let the steaks simmer for an hour, flipping them over half way through.

When the hour is up, taste the cooking liquid for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed. Dissolve the cornstarch in two tablespoons of cold water and pour into the pan. Give it a minute to thicken, and if it's not thick enough for you, feel free to add another slurry, using only 1 tablespoon of cornstarch this time. Stir in the parsley if you have it.

Serve a piece of steak and plenty of gravy in a shallow bowl over rice, mashed potatoes, or egg noodles.


Yep, I still don't have any flat leaf parsley on hand--I forgot about buying it at the store the other day. I'm sure the pretty flecks of green would have made this picture look less, well, poo like!

Rating: This is awesome

It ain't pretty, but it tastes really good on a cold night in December.

Pork and Beef Ravioli

Ah, ravioli made with wonton skins. I've been wanting to make this since I first heard of it. It's perfect for me because I (a) am too lazy to make fresh pasta and (b) have a shitload of wonton skins in the freezer. So now that I have finished my first batch of them, I have to say, I don't think that dealing with the non-flavor of the skins is worth the convenience! Making the ravioli is still fairly time consuming, with the stuffing and the cooking, so why not just take some extra time to make the pasta by hand? Fresh pasta would taste much better. Of course, I say this having no clue how to make pasta and most definitely lacking the necessary kitchen hardware! So yeah, I'll probably keep making ravioli with wonton skins again anyway :-)

I made my ravioli by pressing two wonton skins together to make a big square ravioli with a lump of meat in the middle. I think that was a bad idea. My stomach is really annoyed with all the excess pasta that is in it right now. If I could do it again, I would form each one from a single wonton skin in a triangular shape like this guy did. So that's the method I recommend to you. If you still want to use the method with two skins, trim some of the excess pasta around the edges of your ravioli pieces at the very least--you don't need it, and it doesn't add any flavor.

I chose to serve mine with marinara sauce, but you could use any sauce you like, or even float them in a simple broth. For the meat filling, I used the 3 to 1 ratio of beef to pork because those are the amounts I had on hand. Feel free to vary the ratio however you want.

1 package square wonton wrappers
3/4 pound ground beef
1/4 pound ground pork
2 eggs
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan

Add the meats, bread crumbs, basil and parsley, garlic, cinnamon, nutmeg, parmesan and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper to a medium bowl. Lightly beat one of the eggs in a coffee mug (or similar vessel) and pour over the other ingredients. Mix everything together thoroughly.

Crack the other egg into a bowl and beat it with about 1/8 cup of water to make an egg wash. To assemble the ravioli, place one wonton skin, floury side down, on a cutting board. Place a scant tablespoon-sized lump of filling in the middle of the dough. Using a pastry brush, paint the edges of any two consecutive sides of the square wonton skin with the egg wash. Fold the skin diagonally in half over the filling and press to seal. Be sure to coax out any bubbles. Repeat until you run out of filling or wonton skins. If you run out of skins first, like I did, put your leftover filling in the freezer and save it for another time!

Bring a large pot of salted water to a fierce boil. Add the ravioli to the pot in batches of 6 or 8. Stir around for the first minute each batch is in the pot so they don't stick together. Leave the ravioli in the boiling water until the pasta and filling are both fully cooked, which took me about 5-7 minutes per batch. Using a slotted spoon, remove the ravioli, one by one, to a baking sheet. If needed, top off the pot with fresh boiling water from a tea kettle or microwave between each batch.

At some point during this, make your serving sauce of choice. I sauteed a chopped yellow onion with some garlic in a large pan until it was soft, then added a jar of store bought marinara and a splash of dry sherry. It simmered away on the stove while I was cooking the ravioli.


Sorry for another blurry picture!

Rating: This is awesome
I loved the filling! But just...too...much...pasta. All...blood...in...stomach...not...brain.

Italian Wedding Soup

Italian wedding soup doesn't actually get served at weddings in Italy. It's a mistranslation in English of the Italian name for the soup, which originally connoted that the flavors of the greens and meat go well, or marry well, together. I agree completely! This is one of Wei's favorite dinners, and I've grown pretty fond of it too over the past year as I've perfected my recipe. It's a great one pot meal, with lots of veggies, pasta, and tender meatballs.

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 cups spinach leaves, chopped into strips
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup orzo pasta
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
1/2 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 ounce of parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Put a couple of tablespoons of the olive oil to a large soup pot and warm up over medium heat. Add the onion and carrot to the pot and saute until soft, about 10 minutes.

For the meatballs, combine the ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, cheese, herbs, and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Form the mixture into bite sized meatballs and set aside.

Add the garlic to the pot and saute for about a minute, until fragrant. Pour in the chicken broth along with 4 cups of water and bring up to a boil. Add the orzo and meatballs and simmer until the orzo is cooked, about 15 minutes; stir frequently to keep the orzo from sticking together. Throw in the spinach and let cook until wilted, 2 or 3 minutes. Taste the broth for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.


Rating: This is awesome
It was a perfect hearty soup for the first full day of autumn (even though it was still in the 90's here today)!

Beef with Peppers

I don't usually go for exact stir fry recipes; I think they're much better when the cook is adding a little of this, a little of that, with no set plan. However, I have a phobia about stir frying beef. It goes back to the first time I tried it a few years ago when I severely overcooked it. It was like eating a shoe leather stir fry. I saw this recipe in the Washington Post food section last week and thought I'd give it a try. Since it seemed very saucy I thought it would be forgiving of an accidental overcooking incident.

It turns out that I didn't have to worry. The beef cooked perfectly; the end product was tender and flavorful!



For the marinade and steak
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1.5 - 2 pound piece of flank steak, trimmed of excess fat

For the seasoning sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons water
2 teaspoons sugar

For the stir fry
Peanut oil
1 inch length of fresh ginger, grated
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 small onion, sliced into half moons
1 green onion, minced
2 bell peppers (any color, but I prefer red), seeded and thinly sliced
White pepper (optional)

Get a pot of rice started first thing.

Slice the beef against the grain into roughly 1/8-inch thick strips; then cut the strips in half lengthwise. Whisk together the marinade ingredients in a medium bowl and add the beef strips. Stir to coat the beef and marinade for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together the ingredients for the seasoning sauce in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large wok or deep sided pan over high heat. Add the beef to the wok and season with a few dashes of white pepper. Stir fry until the outside is seared, but there is still a little pink inside, 3 or 4 minutes. Remove the beef to a plate and set aside.

Wipe down the inside of the wok with a paper towel and add another tablespoon of oil. Throw the onions in and stir around until they are soft and becoming translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, green onion, peppers, and ginger to the wok and stir fry until the peppers are slightly charred and softer, 3 or 4 minutes. Put the beef and any accumulated juices back in the wok and toss thoroughly. Pour the seasoning sauce in the wok and stir fry for a minute or two, until everything is evenly coated in the sauce. Finish with a couple of sprinkles of white pepper and serve over the rice.

Rating: This is awesome
This was a very tasty (and easy!) stir fry. I think I'm going to have to start using rice wine all the time in my stir frys--I loved the little kick it gave in the background of the sauce.

Salisbury Steak

One night back in college, I was having dinner in the caf with my friends Ty and Garron. Ty and I both got salisbury steak. Garron sniffed at us and said something like "I can't believe you're going to eat those botulism patties." I rolled my eyes. Ty said "Look, at least we know what we're eating. Salisbury steak is fuckin burgers in gravy. That's it. Do you know what that shit is that you're eating?" Oh Snap. Hippie got owned.


Yup, Ty was right: just burgers in gravy. But how is it so delicious?!

This is basically a fancied up version of my mom's recipe.* I have eaten her salisbury steak more times than I can count. We all have predominent tastes from our childhoods; this is one of mine. I have to say that I liked my version a little bit better, but only because of the inclusion of mushrooms in the gravy. My mom is a mushroom phobe, so they never show up in hers.

You will need a cup of already cooked rice for the patties. I used some that we had leftover from Chinese takeout. Seriously, we have ten of those cartons full of white rice stashed in our fridge, because God forbid my husband waste a single grain of precious, precious rice. It's so expensive and hard to find, right? To reconsitute leftover rice that's been sitting in the fridge for a while, put it in a bowl and add a splash of water. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and cook in the microwave on high for 2 minutes. Magically your old, dried out rice will be moist, fluffy, and ready to use in the beef patties (this trick never ceases to amaze me)!

1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup cooked rice
1 envelope Lipton onion soup mix
1 egg, beaten
1 onion, 3/4 finely chopped, 1/4 grated
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
8 ounces crimini (a.k.a. baby portobello) or white button mushroom, sliced
2 cups beef broth or stock
Flour or cornstarch
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a large skillet and warm over medium heat. Add the chopped onion, garlic, and mushrooms. Saute until the onions are soft and the mushrooms are darker and slippery, about 15 minutes.

While the onions and mushrooms are cooking, start making the beef patties. Combine the beef, egg, 1 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper, and the rice in a large bowl. Take the 1/4 piece of the onion and grate it directly into the bowl. Mix everything together, and form into 4 or 5 patties.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put the onion mixture into a medium sized saucepan. Mix in the Lipton onion soup mix, beef broth, and 2 cups of water. Bring up to a boil and let simmer. In either a large skillet or the vessel in which you will bake the patties, add a tablespoon of olive oil and warm over medium heat. Add the patties and brown on both sides, about 4 minutes per side. In the pot with the gravy, stir in a cornstarch or flour slurry to thicken. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.

Transfer the patties into a deep baking dish or dutch oven if they're not there already. Pour the gravy mixture over the patties and cover. If your baking dish doesn't have its own cover, use tinfoil to tent the dish instead. Bake for one hour, checking halfway through to spoon some gravy over the tops of the patties. While the salisbury steak is baking away, make some rice, egg noodles, or mashed potatoes to serve with it.


Some people might want some sort of vegetable to go with this, but I say it's cool without. There's mushrooms and onions in the sauce after all!

Rating: This is awesome
Obviously I'm going to love it, but I do think that it's a classic.

*Edit: After talking to my mom yesterday, I found out that this is actually my paternal grandmother's recipe. She passed away before I was born, so let's consider this tasty dish and the fact that I'm still making it as a memorial to her.

Beef Stroganoff

I didn't voluntarily eat beef stroganoff until I was 20 years old. I was really grossed out by creamy sauces throughout my childhood, and truthfully, they still send a shiver up my spine. However, this is one of Wei's favorite dishes, so I figured that I should experiment until I find a recipe that we can both like.

I got this one from Nigella Lawson's How to Eat. I wanted to try it, because she uses creme fraiche in the sauce instead of sour cream, which I hate. It took a bit of work to find the creme fraiche though. They didn't have it at Whole Foods, so I had to go to Star Provisions, a fabulous gourmet store in West Midtown, to pick it up. It was worth it for me, but it probably wouldn't be for everybody. You can definitely sub in sour cream if you want. This made a ton of sauce, which is probably why Nigella suggests serving it over white rice. I used egg noodles instead, at Wei's request.

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
A few drops of olive oil
1 large onion, minced
1/2 pound white button mushrooms, sliced
Whole nutmeg
Paprika
Salt and pepper
2 pounds beef fillet, trimmed of fat (just the gobs of fat on the outside--not the inner marbling) and silverskin if any, cut into thin strips
Scant 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 8-ounce container of creme fraiche
Dry sherry (Nigella didn't include this, but I think it's key to cut through the creaminess of the sauce)
Cornstarch (optional)
White rice or egg noodles

Put 2 tablespoons of butter and a drop of oil in a large skillet, and warm over medium to medium-high heat. When the butter is melted, throw in the onions and saute gently, stirring frequently, until soft. Add 2 more tablespoons of the butter and add the mushrooms when it's melted. Cook for another 4-5 minutes. Grate some whole nutmeg over the pan (it's hard to measure, but I think I added about 1/2 teaspoon's worth) and season with salt and pepper. Stir well and remove to a plate.

Add the remaining butter to the pan with a couple of drops of oil and turn the heat up to high. Season the beef with salt and pepper while it's still on the cutting board. Stir-fry the fillet strips for a couple of minutes until it's seared on the inside but still pink on the inside. Return the onions and mushrooms to the pan; stir well. Add a splash of dry sherry. Grate over some more nutmeg and stir in the Dijon mustard and creme fraiche. Sprinkle in a pinch of paprika, add more salt to your taste. Thicken with a cornstarch slurry if the sauce isn't thick enough for you--it wasn't for us!

Take off the heat, and serve over white rice or egg noodles. If you're using egg noodles, put a pot of salted water on to boil when you start cooking the onions and they should be ready by the time you're done cooking. If you're using rice, start the pot before you do your prep. Sprinkle a bit more paprika over the individual servings.

I realize now that I should have snapped a shot of Wei's bowl, because I used as little sauce as possible on mine! Don't be fooled by the picture; this recipe produced a lot of sauce, and Wei informed me that it was fantastic. If you like your beef stroganoff swimming, it won't be a problem.

Rating: This is awesome
This was really tasty. It has a lot of simple flavors, but when they come together, yum! Next time, I might sear the beef first, take it out of the pan, and not put it back in until the onions and mushrooms are fully done. I might have overcooked the beef a tiny bit, because I wasn't working fast enough at the end. Hopefully cooking it first would prevent that. Also, I think I'll add a scattering of flat leaf parsley before serving, just for visual interest :-)

Grilled Flank Steak and Orzo with the Works

I have such a love-hate relationship with Rachael Ray.

I love that she encourages people to get in the kitchen. I love it when she creates recipes that boil down the essence of a classic dish so you get the flavor without all the fuss. I hate it when she throws way too many ingredients into a big pot and calls it a "stoup." I hate that in the book from which I got this dish, 365: No Repeats, she advocates feeding meals to dogs that include onions, which happen to be toxic to dogs. She says that her dog used to love the flavor of onions. WTF?! Her dog liked the flavor of death?

But I digress. This was one of her better recipes. Also, it included a vegetable that I had never used before: fennel! I had to modify it a bit; it originally called for skirt steak, not flank, but there was nary a piece of skirt steak to be found in Publix when I was there yesterday. She suggested using 1 pint of grape tomatoes in the orzo, but honestly, I think grape tomatoes are twee and overpriced. Regular seeded tomatoes worked quite well instead! Also, I had to omit the flat leaf parsley that she specified for the orzo because I didn't have any. I didn't really miss it, either.

1.5 - 2 pound piece of flank steak
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus some for drizzling
Salt and pepper
1/2 pound orzo pasta
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 fennel bulb, quartered, cored, and thinly sliced
A couple of pinches (or more if you like it spicy!) of crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup chicken broth
2 small tomatoes, seeded and chopped
10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Marinate the steak for 10 minutes in the balsamic vinegar, a good drizzle of olive oil, and lots of freshly ground black pepper.

Preheat your grill pan or outdoor grill to as hot as you dare.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and add the orzo. Cook until al dente, about 12 minutes.

While you're getting the pasta water started, preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat with the olive oil. Add the onions, garlic, fennel, and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.

Season the steak with salt and grill for 5 -7 minutes per side. [Disclaimer: I don't know anything about using an outdoor grill, as I've never owned one. This time works on my stovetop grill pan to produce a rare steak. I highly encourage you to use the touch test otherwise: if the meat feels like your cheek, it's rare. If it feels like your chin, it's medium. If it feels like your forehead, it's well done.] Remove the meat to a cutting board and let it rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing.

Add the chicken stock and tomato to the pan and bring it up to a bubble. Add the cooked orzo, basil, and parmesan cheese and stir to combine. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper until it's how you like it.

Slice the meat very thinly on a sharp angle against the grain. Plate and serve!

Rating: This is awesome
I totally didn't expect it to be awesome. I was iffy about using balsamic vinegar on steak, and I thought the orzo would be blah. But it wasn't! I would probably make it again.