Australian Recipes

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Recipes:

Meringues                           
Australian Meat Pies (traditional recipe)

Aussie Meat Pies

Traditional Australian meat pies were created with a special base pastry that could be held in the hand, so that way back when, hardworking men could eat a hot meal with the convenience of not having to grab a plate and utensils.  They are as much a national icon as Vegemite and can be bought at any bakery, and most convenience stores.  This recipe comes from the Australian Womans Weekly Cooking Class Cookbook (1992)

You will need 4 individual pie forms, greased.

Filling:
750g (1.5lbs) minced steak (ground beef)                  2 tablespoons plain flour (all purpose flour)
2 beef stock cubes                                                    1/4 cup of water, extra
salt, pepper                                                               1 teaspoon soy sauce
pinch nutmeg

Place meat into a pan, stir over low heat until meat is well browned.  Drain off any surplus fat.  Add crumbled stock cubes, water, salt, pepper and nutmeg, stir until boiling, reduce heat, cover, simmer gently 20 minutes; remove from heat.
Combine extra water and flour, stir until combined.  Return to heat, stir until meat boils and thickens.  Add soy sauce, stir until combined.  Simmer uncovered 5-10 minutes
Remove from heat, allow to cool.

Pie Base:
2 cups plain flour (all purpose flour)                         1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cups of water                                                    60g (2oz) beef dripping (or beef shortening)

Pie Top:
375g (12oz) packaged puff pastry
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon water

Base:  Sift flour and salt into a bowl.  Place water and dripping/shortening into suacepan, stir unil dripping melts; remove from heat.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add liquid, stir until combined.
Turn out on to lightly floured surface, knead lightly.  Roll out pastry to line pie tins/forms.  Cut excess pastry around sides of dishes using a sharp knife.  Fill with filling.

Top: Roll out puff pastry on lightly floured surface, cut out rounds for top of pies; use saucer as guide.  Wet edges of base pastry, and gently press tips winto place, trim around edges with sharp knife.  Pierce center with pointed knife.  Brush tips with combined egg yolk and water. 
Bake in hot oven - 200c (475F) for 5 minutes.  Reduce heat to moderate 180c (350F) and continue to bake for 10 minutes.
                                                          

Looking for Halloween crafts?

Its that time of year again, The next one will be in January. New fun craft products have been released, craft stores have ordered thier new product, and designers have previewed and created.

Creative Memories is no exception. I am here to tell you that thier new lines are just beautiful, and funky AND fun! In the next few days, I'll be giving you a preview of the Creative Memories BRAND NEW Halloween line! This really is one of the best I've seen to date. Keep an eye out here!

Hooroo,
Helen

The Alamo

..."there are your brothers, Travis, Bowie, Crockett, and others whose valor places them in the rank of my heroes."
Juan Seguin, February 25, 1837.

Alamo at Night.

The Alamo is one of those places I have wanted to see for a long time, at least 10 years or so. I always wanted to be a 'fossil digger upper' or in regular english, a Paleontologist. I even found some of my own large fossils!... and very nearly chose a career in Archeology, after being offered a nice position at a museum in Sydney University years ago, but I was still in high school, in another state. I'd still definately jump at the chance to be a field tech somewhere. So naturally, since we're in Texas, how could I not take the girls?...

ahhh... well, as you can see, I took them anyway.

The architecture is recognized world wide, the original stone walls of the church, over 250 years old...(theAlamo.org) where in one of the rooms, only a few survivors of the seige took refuge. The wall in that room is forever etched with names and dates.
The skeletons of four people were found buried in the floor of the church. They still remain there, inturred. No one really knows for sure who they are, there has been some speculation.



By the time you leave the Alamo, you are taken by the bravery and the significance the Alamo had on American history. The Texians, the Tejanos, defenders from Tennessee, Michigan, Missouri...the heros, some well known, others less so, are all paid tribute in the church - now a museum.



I'm not sure if its because I seem to have an 'old soul' so to speak, but I can't walk past any historical site without thinking of the people who were once there and the details. I love details. The style of the windows, the old stone, the morter that is still in place, the etching, memorializing the existance of someone, long ago. I love the look of old wood and remnants, how it got that way, the investigation and analysis. The Alamo was no exception.


Here you can see where the old stone wall ended and the blending line of the 'new' cement roof. The church had never actually had a full roof previously.



The gardens were beautiful!
I really enjoyed this trip.



TheAlamo.org