Greek Meat Pie

A photo showing two meat pies on a white dish, with one cut open to show the filling.
Two meat pies, with one cut open to show how packed the filling is. Photo by PattyCooks.

Diet
[x] Flexitarian + Omnivore
[x] Vegetarian: substitute meat with shiitake mushrooms
[x] Pescatarian: substitute meat with shiitake mushrooms
[x] Vegan: sub in mushrooms for meat, flax egg for chicken egg, and vegan cheese.
[x] Gluten free: I do not believe there is GF puff pastry, so put all the ingredients into a ramekin to bake without the dough, just be sure to put the Parmesan cheese on top so it browns to emulate a crust.
[x] Weight Maint: will work if you follow GF suggestion and skip the dough (reduces calories by 225!)
[O] Keto
[x] Mediterranean
[O] Lectin Avoidance: wheat, milk products, egg
[x] Purine Avoidance:
[O] Oxalate Avoidance: spinach, wheat

Greek Meat Pie

A meat pie with traditional Greek filling using a puff pastry dough.

Filling: Meat

  • 1/2 # Ground Beef
  • 1/2 # Ground Lamb
  • 2 T good olive oil
  • 1 t Kosher Salt
  • 1/2 t Pepper

Filling: Veggies, herbs, cheese, nuts

  • 1 T Olive oil
  • 1 C Yellow onion (Diced + sautéed )
  • 16 oz Organic frozen cut spinach (Defrosted + sautéed )
  • 1/2 C Parmesan cheese (Finely grated, not packed)
  • 12 Oz Feta Cheese (Crumble)
  • 1/2 C Dill (Chop then measure)
  • 1/4 C Mint leaves (Chop then measure)
  • 1 extra-large eggs (lightly beaten)
  • 1/4 C Panko
  • 1 t grated nutmeg
  • 1 t kosher salt
  • 1 t freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 C Pine nuts (Toasted)

Dough

  • 1 T Rice flour (Sprinkle on the counter, most of it will the trashed when done)
  • 1 Box Puff Pastry
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 T Water

Mise en Place

  1. Defrost the spinach and puff pastry the night before in the fridge.

  2. Heat oven to 350F.

  3. Chop onions, mint, and dill. Place the mint and dill in a large bowl for the filling. Reserve the onions.

  4. Finely grate parmesen, and planer-grate some nutmeg and add to the filling bowl.

  5. Crumble Feta cheese and measure out the Panko, and add to the filling bowl.

  6. Toast pine nuts in a dry cast iron skillet. Then add to the filling bowl.

Prepare Meat

  1. In another bowl combine lamb and beef, salt and pepper, and mix well.

  2. Heat cast iron skillet, add oil and sear the meat. You want to put them in and leave them alone until the side down is browning. This may take ~5+ minutes but increases flavor and is why you should not use non-stick pans for this, we want browning and for the oil to dissipate.

  3. Once the browning starts, flip over and do the others side. Once cooked, remove from the heat and place the meat (not any remaining oil) into the filling bowl. Mix well.

Prep Veggies

  1. Add a bit more oil and saute the chopped onions in the same skillet until translucent. Add the defrosted spinach and mix well. Then once it is cooked, scrape into the filling bowl.

  2. Once everything in the bowl cools down, add in one egg and mix well. If egg is added while hot it will bake into egg pieces, we want the egg to assist with binding.

Pasty Prep + Filling

  1. Open the puff pastry package, and cut the two packages into 12 pieces, 6 per sheet.



  2. Sprinkle some flour on the counter, and roll out each piece



  3. Add filling and carefully fold the dough over.



  4. Crimp the dough, cutting off any left-over.



  5. Create an egg wash with 1 egg and 1T water, then brush each pie.

  6. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and move into the oven for 1 hour.



  7. Then pull out and let cool for at least 10 inutes.



This is a wonderfully flavored meat pie, that could also be done by replacing the meat with diced shiitake mushrooms. All the other aspects of the recipe would remain, just replace the meat.