the review: meat pies

Let me start off by saying that this is somewhat time consuming. Not the best choice start to finish for a mid-week meal. However, according to Martha, you can make these in advance and freeze them, which would definitely make this a perfect weeknight meal. Did I do this? No. Did I maybe burn the meatpies a bit? Yep.

This recipe is worth the time, though, and if you feel like baking but don’t want to make something sweet, or if you have a rainy Sunday to pitter around your kitchen, you should definitely make these. The prep is simple. It is the chill time and the cooking time that make it hard for a week night. But so worth it. Do you know that I have served these at least three times and my family still doesn’t know that these pies have eggplant in them? How’s that for hiding your vegetables.

Ok, so to get started, you’ll need a bit of this meat mixture. I’ve mentioned this before, but this stuff is fantastic. There are four recipes that you can make with it and it can be pre-mixed and frozen so it is ready to go. Anyway, back on track. The pie filling is quite simple. Sauté a little eggplant, add it to the meat mixture with some apricots and seasoning and you are good. It is the pie making that takes a little time. Note to self, if you substitute store-bought pie dough for homemade, like me, let it sit on your counter for a bit before attempting to unroll or it will look like this:

Chill for an hour, bake for an hour. I’m simplifying here. 

Serve with a nice salad.

 We went with mixed greens, pears, goat cheese, almonds, and craisins. Make this dressing. It’s awesome. And it follows my rule for homemade dressings – made in the blender in under five minutes. We also served this with a curry couscous salad from Ina Garten. Good stuff, I tell you.