Good evening.
Tonight Baker has left these Winter climes for sunny Queensland/New South Wales, for a weekend of fun and frivolity. It seemed fitting then that I bake, not so much in his honour, but because I felt like it.
This afternoon saw me jonesing asian food bad. This frequently happens due to The Abacus, my desk-neighbour at work. The Abacus is Chinese and every time she talks about Chinese food I get a huge MSG/five spice/dumpling/Yum Cha/duck craving that courses through my body in a similar fashion to that ‘crack’ thing that the youngsters seem to talk about these days.
However, despite wanting to hot-foot it to Camy’s (and that despite having ingested dumplings twice in the past week) pronto, I repeated my new financial mantra to myself (“Do NOT spend money. Under any circumstances.”), put my halo on and headed home to use what I had at my house to make myself dinner. In typical contrarian fashion I went to the other end of the spectrum for my menu inspiration. Kangaroo, afterall, is not particularly compatible with Asian cuisine, except if it’s fusion, which we all know is disgusting. Plus given Melbourne decided to flick the bitch switch and go all arctic on my ass, ’tis the season. So – I give you:
Easy Kangaroo Pot Pies
Ingredients
- Around 200gms of Kangaroo fillet, cubed
- One small can of sliced mushrooms in butter
- Worcestershire sauce
- One onion, sliced
- Olive oil
- Frozen peas
- Beef stock
- Salt and pepper
- Butter
- One sheet of shortcrust or puff pastry
Serve with
Mashed potatoes and corn on the cob (or cut off the cob if you’re like me and hate getting that shit in your teeth)
Worcestershire/Tomato sauce
Method
Fry onion in oil until soft.
Add meat and brown until fully sealed
Add beef stock until mostly covered (not too much, not too little), a few splashes of worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper to taste
Simmer uncovered over relatively high heat until stock reduces
Add can of mushrooms and stir through, continue simmering until sauce thickens sufficiently
In the meantime, boil a saucepan of water and peel potatoes. When water is boiling, put peeled, chopped potatoes in and steam corn and peas. When peas are thawed, put into a small bowl and smash lightly with a fork. When potatoes are tender, drain and then mash in a bowl with a small amount of butter and salt and pepper.
Pour kangaroo mixture into a small pie sized pot (I used a 15×15 squarish earthenware pot) and top with smashed peas.
Cover pie with pastry (I used shortcrust but puff would probably be better), cutting off excess and pushing into edge of pie dish. Bake in a 180 degree celsius oven for around 20 mins or until pie crust is golden.
Serve pie with extra worcestershire or tomato sauce.
Voila!
