Savory Puff Pastry Pie

Cook’s Country (Feb/March 2010 had an interesting recipe for something they called “Michigan Pasties” which looked interesting, though the name was a little ribald for my taste. We tried the recipe as is; they were just okay. They would have been better, but they burned a bit. I should have checked them five minutes before the minimum stated cooking time. But they had potential and inspiration struck when I thought of several left-behind puff pastries from a holiday dinner. So here is my variation that is much superior to the original.

ingredients

2 Puff Pastry sheets
1 onion chopped fine
1/2 lb ground pork sausage
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 cup ap flour
2 cups leftover beef roast*
1 cup leftover roast gravy
salt and pepper
1 egg beaten

*We had leftover braised brisket, and it was incredibly good. However, I believe this would work well with chuck roast or any other good pot roast.

directions

1. Shred the meat if it is not yet.

2. Saute the onions until softened. Add the ground pork and cook till just done. Add spices and cook till aromatic. Stir in flour and cook about 30 seconds. Add gravy, meat and any vegetables that were in the pot roast; cook until quite thick. Set aside to cool.

3. Heat oven to 450. Line sheet pan with parchment paper.

4. Spread out puff pastry on a flour-dusted board (be certain to take it out of freezer 20-30 minutes before attempting to unfold it) and roll it out to approximately 10″x20″. Cut in half to make two 10″x10″ sheets. Spoon about 1/4 of meat mixture on center of each piece, leaving about a 1″ border. Moisten edges with egg wash. Fold and crimp edges. Brush tops with egg wash and slash several times to let steam out.

5. Bake 20-25 minutes. Let cool five-ten minutes before serving.

variation

1/2 lb ground pork sausage
1/2 onion chopped
1/4 cup mozzarella or monterey cheese
1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk

1. Cook onions till softened. Add the ground pork and cook till no longer pink. Stir in flour and cook till juices are absorbed and flour becomes a thick paste. Pour in milk and cook till thickened (it will be quite thick).

2. Remove from heat and cool to room temp. Stir in cheese.

Use this as an alternate meat mix.

and the result

This is an outstanding meal to use up leftovers! We will be making this many times in the future. This went great with a salad.