Pie

Pie. Meat Pie to be more precise. If there is a national Australian dish, this is it. Australians love meat pies. They eat about 330 million a year. That’s about 15 per Australian. I’m counting babies and old people with no teeth in those figures, discount them and were talking about a population that eats something like half it’s average body weight in pies annually. It’s the Aussie answer to the hotdog. Eaten at sporting matches, languishing in hot boxes in every convenient mart, sold from 24-hour roadside stands to hapless drunks stumbling home through the pre-dawn glow, desperate for grease to quell the angry sea of grain and grape within which threatens, at any moment, to capsize their tiny, shattered vessel.

The most famous of meat pie merchants in Sydney is Harry’s Café de Wheels. Like Pink’s Hot Dogs in L.A., Harry’s is a former mobile vendor. They both serve up the country’s respective favorite with considerable mediocrity to a seemingly endless queu of blank-eyed junkfood slackers (trust me, I eat at Harry’s a lot and every time I go, I mean every time, I can’t beat a conversation out of anyone). These pastry parcels are filled with unidentifiable meat byproducts clutched together by an unnaturally glossy, deep-brown, quivering paste. This bounty is served atop mash – either reconstituted potato or loooong-cooked peas (pea mash is the classic style, order the “Pie Floater” and sound as if you know what the hell you are talking about, you junkfood slacker).

My pie, I hope, is nothing like that.




Chicken, Mushroom, and Tarragon Pie

1 chicken thigh and drumstick, skin on, bone in
1 small brown onion, fine dice
1 carrot, peeled, fine dice
1 clove garlic, cracked (not crushed; I’m going to have you fish this out later)
1 rasher bacon, diced
50 ml white wine
250 ml chicken stock
1 bay leaf
500 g mixed mushrooms, trimmed, sliced
1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon
puff pastry
1 egg yolk
1 Tbsp milk


Generously salt and pepper the chicken. Dredge chicken in flour, shake and pat to remove excess. In a deep-sided pan with a tight-fitting lid on moderate heat melt a tablespoon of butter and brown meat on all sides. Remove from pan. Add onion, carrot, garlic, and bacon. Sweat without colouring until onion softens, about 8 minuets. Add the white wine, bring to a boil and reduce until nearly all the liquid is gone. Return chicken to the vegetable pan with the bay leaf and chicken stock. Cover pan tightly and braise in a 160ºC (325º F) oven 1 ½ - 2 hours, until meat is just beginning to fall from the bones. Uncover and allow to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, working in small batches, sauté the mushrooms in a hot pan lightly coated with oil.

When the chicken is cool enough to touch, remove it from the braising liquid. Strain the liquid and return it to the stove. Simmer to reduce the liquid by half. Carefully pick all the chicken meat off the bones, taking care not to break it up too much. Gently mix meat with the mushrooms, the reserved vegetables from the braise – removing the clove of garlic and the bay leaf (go fishin’ boy) – the reduced liquid, and the tarragon. Season.

Line two greased individual pie tins with puff pastry, leaving about 2 centimetres (1 inch) hanging over the edge. Fill with chicken mix and top the pie with more puff pastry, crimping the edges together to form a seal. Poke a few holes in the top so the little sucker can breathe. Brush top with an egg wash made from 1 yolk and 1 tablespoon of milk.

Bake in a 180º (350º) oven 30 – 40 minuets or until the bottom of the pastry begins to crisp. You may need to cover the top crust with foil after 15 or 20 minuets to prevent it from browning too much.

Serve on buttery mashed potatoes and steamed peas.