Ben & Judy's Aussie Recipes

Impress your friends . . . cook them an Aussie meal this weekend!

Found in every takeaway shop, the meat pie is one of Australia's favourite quick meals--on the road, after school, at a party, or at the family dinner table. Meat pies are much easier bought than made, but if you live outside Australia, you'll probably have to make your own from scratch.

Ingredients
1/2 kg. (about 1 lb.) ground beef
1 cube (or 1 tsp.) beef stock
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 cup water
dash nutmeg
3 tsp. flour
pastry shells

Method
Brown meat in a frying pan. Drain off excess fat. Add beef stock, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add water and bring to a boil. Simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat, cool slightly and add flour to thicken. Return to heat and stir continuously until thickened. Pour beef mixture into pastry shells. Bake until pastry is golden brown. Serve piping hot. Top with a dob of tomato sauce (ketchup).

Recipe yields one 25 cm (10 in) pie, about five 10 cm (4 in) pies, or about fifteen 5 cm (2 in) "party pies."