Beef, Mushroom & Red Wine Pot Pies

A friend recently reminded me of these pies that I had cooked for her, years and years ago when we lived in the sticks of central Queensland!  So of course I thought this would be a great recipe to blog - thanks for reminding me Carly!

Ingredients (makes 4 pies):
You will need 4 large ramekins (each approx 1 cup capacity)
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp duck fat (or other cooking fat)
1/2 zucchini, peeled, grated
1/2 green capsicum, deseeded, diced
500g beef mince
200g mushrooms, sliced
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup preservative-free red wine (I used Settlers Ridge)
1/2 cup water
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Herbamare
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Sea salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp cornflour (gluten-free) if required to thicken sauce
1 sheet Pampas butter puff pastry

Method:
1.   Into a pot on medium heat, add the diced onion, minced garlic and cooking fat.  Cook, stirring, until the onion has softened.

(In Thermomix - add halved onion and garlic cloves.  Chop 5sec/sp5.  Add cooking fat.  Cook 2min/100deg/sp1)

2.  Add zucchini, capsicum and beef mince.  Cook, stirring, until mince is browned.


(In Thermomix - add zucchini, capsicum.  Chop 5sec/sp5.  Add mince.  Cook 3min/100deg/rev+sp1)

3.  Add wine, water, tomato paste, mushrooms, vinegar, parsley, Herbamare and salt and pepper.  Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for around 20 minutes, stirring every now and then.  If you would like to thicken the sauce a bit, add some cornflour mixed until smooth with some water and simmer for a few more minutes.

(In Thermomix, add wine, water, tomato paste, mushrooms, vinegar and parsley.  Cook 20min/100deg/rev+sp1. If a thicker consistency is required, mix cornflour with a small amount of water until smooth, add to the Thermie and cook for another couple of minutes)

4.  Preheat oven to  200 degrees.  Place the ramekins onto a large baking tray.  Almost fill the ramekins with the meat mixture, to approximately 2cm from the top.  Cut the pastry sheet into 4 squares and cut a small slit (for the steam to vent through as the pies cook) in the middle of each pastry square.  Press the pastry firmly onto each ramekin.  Trim excess pastry if you like, but I like to leave the excess pastry on. 

5.  Bake for around 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden and cooked through.  I served these pies with veggie mash and steamed veggies.