Lovely Meat and Veggie Pies

We had meat pies at Dickens Fair in San Francisco this year and loved them so much that I decided I wanted to try to make them. My husband even helped out a little! It was fun and not as hard as you might think. The baby loved them too! We bought small ramekins at World Market for $4 a 4-pack to make individual pies.

Ingredients:

1-2 pounds ground meat (we used a mix of lamb and beef)
1 sweet onion, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 small/medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 red potatoes, chopped small
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 Tbsp parsley flakes
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp butter
salt and pepper

Dough:

2 cups flour
2/3 cup softened butter
1 tsp salt
6 Tbsp cold water

Brown the meat in a large pan on medium heat, breaking up into bits as it cooks, while you chop the vegetables.

Put carrots and potatoes into a small pot and cover with water, then boil about ten minutes until softened.

Drain meat once it's cooked. Add butter to pan and throw in the onions and garlic to brown up a bit. Then add the meat and the cooked potatoes and carrots and mix it all together. Turn the heat to low and throw in the peas, milk, flour, parsley, and as much salt and pepper as you like the taste of. Mix it all together until it's creamy, adding more milk if needed.

Mix the dough with your hands and roll out thinly. Use a bowl as a cookie cutter to make a circle large enough to fit into the ramekin. Spray inside of ramekins with cooking oil and push the dough circles into them, tucking loose ends in neatly.

Save enough dough to make smaller circles of dough for the tops of the pies. Fill each crust with the meat mixture and then top with another crust, pinching closed at the edges. Cut a small cross in the top of each pie to let out steam.

Place on a baking sheet for ease of removing from oven and bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes.