Happy New Year

Happy New Year, 2012 here we go.  I move forward into 2012 with a mixed bag of emotions.  After such a big year last year, with sooooooo many changes, I thought I would be glad to see the end of 2011 however I am a little sad to move forward.  After losing my mother to cancer last year, ringing in the New Year was a sad time as it signified moving forward in this life and starting a New Year without her.
With all this talk of the end of the world and the fact that we are living in the 'new age' right now, I enter this year with a keen sense of all we have is today.  2011 was full of so many rapid twists and turns not only in my private life but in the world in general.  We really have no idea what this year will bring and all of the best laid plans can vanish and become insignificant in an instant.
I'm not sure that I believe in New Years resolutions in the way that so many people set unrealistic goals.  However having an inner resolve to improve an aspect of life is very much a part of my daily experience of this life.  I definitely will be reminding myself to live for the moment.  Enjoy and love my life today.  Not next week when I get a pay rise, or next year when I have a baby etc...Just being happy with what I have here and now and making the best of ALL of it, including the difficult stuff.

Now that I have had my soap box rave, I will turn to my recipe for today.  On this 30 deg Celsius day on the back of a three day Aussie heat wave, I am living in the moment and on a random craving baking a meat pie.  As I walked around the supermarket on my way home, I picked up cream on special, minced beef on special and a couple of other things.  All the while I was creating the meat pie in my mind.  I love tomato and cream, what a knockout combination.  So the cream on special served to set the tone for my living in the moment meat pie.  The rest of the ingredients were a mixture of what was sitting in the cupboard and growing in my modest herb garden. A nice stodgy meal, when most of us are eating light and cool dinners.  I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Made up Meat Pie

500gr minced beef

1 brown onion diced

2 garlic cloves minced

2 dried chillies finely chopped

handful of fresh picked Rosemary

small tub of tomato paste about 200ml

200 ml cream 

splosh of Worcestershire sauce

1 carrot chopped

1 handful of chopped green beans

2 x Puff pastry sheets

1 egg whisked

Preheat the oven to about 190 deg Celsius.

Saute the onion in a small amount of oil.  Add garlic, chilli, rosemary, carrot and beans; fry for another minute or two on low heat.

Add the mince meat and mix well to break up the meat, avoiding clumps.

Add a splosh of Worcestershire sauce, mix well

Add the tomato paste, mix well

Add cream and simmer for a minute or two.

Line a pie dish with paper and pastry (You can blind bake the pastry if you like, I did not bother today)

Pour in the meat mixture in and place the second pastry sheet over the top, cut around the edge and push together at edges with a fork.

Brush with the whisked egg and poke a hole through the middle.

Place in the oven and bake until golden brown.