Moose meat hand pies on a borrowed plate and a bit wonky looking. Maybe the beautiful Chignik Woodblock Mountains in the background will distract you. They are gorgeous!
We’re about one week out from the big move. That means almost all of our household goods are either waiting for us in Newhalen or they are en route care of the good ‘ol postal service. It also means there is one cook in the house who is longing for all of her mailed kitchen equipment. (Jack is being a much better sport about this.)
With what amounts to a random selection of pantry items that need to be finished and mostly borrowed kitchen items to get us through the next few days, we need to be either very creative or not think about it and just eat. Like I said, Jack is being a good sport. He has been creatively transforming the case of macaroni and cheese boxes we have for our remaining lunches by adding ingredients like rehydrated mushrooms, roasted Brussels sprouts, cans of diced tomatoes, and even the last bit of chorizo. This morning, he created a delicious hot breakfast out of the last bag of cous cous, bacon, cream cheese and toasted pecans.
With our very last pound of ground moose meat thawed in the fridge, I decided to take a turn at being cheery with this challenge and see what I could create. I thought it would be tasty to make turnovers inspired by Mongolian Khuushuur. Under a variety of local names, this type of meat-filled pastry seems to be found the world over. Our southern neighbors make a delicious version called empanadas.
Time to get to work. Yeast? Nope, mailed that. All-purpose flour? Yeah, that’s gone, too. What in the world do I have left? I gathered whole wheat flour, an egg, butter, salt, ground moose meat, Jack’s spicy seasoning mix, and a can of green chilis. Khuushuur and empanadas are both traditionally fried and are made with a bread type dough. No oil. These pastries would be baked. Based on my ingredient list, the dough was going to be of the savory pie variety. I whipped up some pie dough and stuck it in the fridge while I cooked up the filling.
When it was time to make the little meat hand pies, I realized I had no rolling pin, no parchment paper, and no pastry brush. Ugh. A greased cookie sheet did the trick sans parchment paper. And did you know that a skinny bottle of olive oil can double as a rolling pin? I didn’t either. The only disappointment was that wadded up paper towel does not really work as a pastry brush. It definitely wasted too much egg. Any ideas on that one?
At the end of the day, our hand pies were not pretty but we did wind up with a delicious dinner. I’m still not yet as cheery and creative as Jack. Just wait till we get our kitchen set up again, that’ll cheer me up!
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp cold unsalted butter
- 1 egg
- 6 tbsp cold water
- 1 egg, beaten for brushing
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Whisk together flour and salt.
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Grate cold butter (with cheese grater) into flour mixture. Mix butter and flour together with hands or a fork. Stir in egg. Stir in water. Continue stirring until shaggy dough forms. You may need to add additional water if the dough won’t come together.
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Break dough into 8 pieces. Create small balls of dough and place balls in fridge while you are making the filling.*
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Roll the dough balls out into small thin circles.
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Place meat mixture in center of dough circles. Fold dough over meat filling and close up edges by using tines of a fork.
- Brush the tops with egg wash for a nice golden top. Cook at 375 for 18-24 minutes depending on the size of your empanadas.
- Serve with slices of avocado and your favorite salsa.
*I sautéed ground meat with one can of green chilis. I added a spice mix and salt to taste. Any type of filling would work inside these hand pies. See what’s in your pantry for inspiration.
CutterLight 
In Butte, Montana the miners carried a meat pie with them at work called a Pasty. They are a tradition in the area and can be purchased at local restaurants.
Cool. Yes to meat pies whatever they’re called, right?
Traditional Cornish pasties are a meal within a pastry case; they include generous helpings of vegetables too.
You have my sympathy; I downsized a year ago and have just moved into the little house I bought. After months of refurbishment, I am now unpacking boxes and feeling little flutters of sheer joy as well-tried and trusted kitchen utensils see the light of day once again.
We were just talking about that this morning, Maureen – how good it will feel to begin to get our kitchen (and other things) back in order once we move. And interesting to us that the pies are referred to as “Pasties” by folks in Montana just as in Cornish!