saturday morning is always such a frenetic rush in the kitschenette household. there are shopping lists to be written (entailing at least partial planning of the up-coming week's meals), recycling to be sorted (glass - green, brown, white, tins, PET bottles, plastic milk bottles...they all need to go to different places) and dropped off, and afore-mentioned shopping to be done. by the time i get back home it's practically almost lunch-time, and i'm starving, the kids are starving and bruno, well he always seems to be hungry : )
most weeks we just throw together a kitchen sink lunch ie. bread, cheese, avocado, yoghurt etc etc but today was so cold that i really felt like something warm and comforting. i'd bought some ready-made pastry when i was shopping so i had the brilliant idea of making little pies for lunch. so quick, and easy (always my main criteria), and with the added bonus of little kiddies adoring them.
so simple! i used a large mug to cut out pastry rounds, and lined a muffin tray with the rounds. i had some left-over tomatoey chicken casserole, so i used that to fill some of them. i grated an apple and used that to make a quick apple pie, sprinkled with brown sugar. then i used a drinking glass (importantly, smaller than the rounds made by the mug) to cut out rounds for the top. i then wet the edges of the pastry casing and laid on the top, pressing the edges closed with a fork. a brush of egg yolk, and into the bottom of the oven on a baking tray (to crisp the bottoms) at 200°c for 15- 20 mins or so, until golden brown and delicious (you can move the pies up higher in the oven to brown the tops after 10 mins or so).
i made these mostly for the kiddies, but adults seem to find them irresistible, too. so keep an eye out for marauding adults if you leave them prone on the kitchen bench, wafting off their gorgeous smell.
Oh how very yummy and satisfying. You are quite brilliant thinking this up. Simple, and I suspect the small pies will be enticing to little people as well. Can't wait for a coolish day to try these for a filling lunch or casual dinner.
Posted by: lucinda | December 20, 2004 at 04:11 AM