Meat Pie

This is a really easy recipe and a throwback to a meal I used to eat at a friend's house as a kid. All I remember about it is that it was a big hunk of ground beef and I used to put loads of ketchup on it. We didn't eat red meat in my house very often, if at all. Believe me, I make up for it now. I think the original recipe had potato cubes in it but I opted for sautéed onions instead.

Ingredients

1 whole organic onion of any kind chopped

1 pound of ground grass-fed beef

1 pound (approximately) of seasoned pastured pork sausage removed from casing- I used Herondale Farm's sweet italian

2 tbs organic ketchup

6 oz can of organic tomato paste

1/4 cup of red wine

1 tsp sea salt

2 pastured eggs

Crust

2 and 1/2 cups of blanched almond flour

1/2 cup of tapioca, arrowroot or sweet potato starch

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp grain-free baking powder

1/2 tsp organic oregano

1 pastured egg

1/4 cup water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees while you prepare the crust.

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl before adding the egg and water. With a fork, mix the liquids through the dry ingredients until the crust sticks together without sticking to your fingers. If you need to add more water, do it in small amounts so the mix does not become too sticky. Powder up your hands with a little of the dry starch or flour and press about 2/3rds of the crust mix into a greased pie pan. Make this base as even as possible and bring it all the way up the sides. The remaining 1/3rd of the mix will be rolled out in between two sheets of parchment paper in the same size as the pie pan. Place the bottom crust in the oven for about 2 minutes, so it sets up just a little. You should see some bubbling in the bottom. Now prepare the filling.

With a spoonful of bacon grease, lard, butter or your preferred fat add the chopped onion to a pan and sauté until soft. Add both meats and break into pieces, cooking until almost fully browned. Add the remaining filling ingredients to a bullet or food processor and blend until smooth. Once the meat is done turn off the heat and add the liquid mix thoroughly. 

Now you can fill the pie and add the top crust. Peeling back one of the pieces of parchment paper on your top crust, you should be able to lay it onto the filled pie and pinch or roll the excess to the top of the bottom crust.

Once this is assembled, bake it for about 30 minutes or until there is a nice golden brown color on the top crust.

Hard and Soft Taco Shells

To make these, you will need 1 package of The Primal Pantry pizza crust mix... which I may start calling my "Magic Mix" since it can take so many different forms.

What you also need
rolling pin
parchment
muffin tin
1 egg
1/4 cup of water

Directions
Mix the ingredients of the bag in a mixing bowl with the egg and half of the 1/4 cup of water using a fork. Slowly add the remaining water until the dough sticks together but doesn't stick to your finger. You may not need all of the water. 
Once your dough is mixed, divide it until you have about 1 and 1/2 inch dough balls. You should have 10 to make 10 large taco shells or tortillas. If you want more, you can make them smaller. Remember that the larger they are, the harder it may be to keep them upright in the mold when making hard shells.


Take each ball and using your rolling pin, roll it into a circle between two pieces of parchment paper or one folded in half. I use this small one-handed rolling tool so that I can hold and rotate the parchment with my other hand. It definitely makes things easier!

For Hard Shells: 
Take your rolled out rounds and using the underside of the muffin tin, place them upright with the parchment still underneath. These will be baked at 350 degrees until they are hard to the touch and have a little brown on the edges.
If you are having trouble with keeping the shells upright before getting them in the oven, you can also hang them over the bars of your oven rack. Just keep both pieces of parchment on for this method.






For Soft Shells:
Keep your rolled out rounds between the parchment laying flat and bake them at 350 degrees. You are going to really want to watch these carefully. Check them after 5 minutes and every couple of minutes after that. You are trying to achieve cooking without hardening. The pieces of parchment protect the middle from cooking too quickly. So, when you start to see the edges of the parchment curling up and the edges of the tortilla are getting stiff, take them out. The middle should still be soft enough to bend when you pick them up. The degree of difficulty is pretty high for these because you really have to avoid letting them go for too long. If you have a tortilla press (if only!) you are a lucky person and may be able to use that to master the perfect even temp for soft shells.

When you have achieved the perfect tortilla, you can create many amazing things like these delicious fajitas! Good luck!