Irish Pasties

So Steve's mom was planning on making Australian Meat Pies for us while she was here because she just got back from a long trip to Australia and told us about these meat pies that are sold everywhere there. We had all the stuff for them and then she ended up having to leave early because of an emergency situation with her sister. I wish we could have tried her meat pies, but I did do the next best thing: find a similar recipe and try it myself!

Now the recipe I found is for Irish Pasties (pronounced pass-tees, I guess it means something else if you say pace-tees.) These are different from the Australian meat pies, but pretty similar according to Steve's mom's instructions. They call for pretty much the same ingredients, but of course the Irish ones had to add potatoes! And since this pregnancy has determined that I love all things potato, I opted to make these.

I thought these were pretty good. Just a fun way to dress up a meat-and-potatoes meal and serve it in a different way. You can't eat too much because the pie crust makes it richer than just a plain meat-and-potatoes meal. I liked it, Steve liked it and the kids nibbled at theirs. It was fun for them to have their own little pocket and they could dip it in their little gravy bowls. I preferred mine with ketchup! I also made 8 small pasties instead of 4 big ones like the recipe calls for--it was more fun our own personal pasties.

THE DONOVAN'S IRISH PASTIES
(adapted from http://favfamilyrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/12/donovans-irish-pasties.html)

1 onion, diced
1 lb. ground beef
3-4 potatoes, thinly sliced (I chopped them more than sliced them)
1-2 t. garlic salt (or to taste)
1-2 T. garlic powder (or to taste)
black pepper, to taste
2-3 T. parsley flakes (or to taste)
1 box refrigerated pie crusts (2 crusts per box)
brown gravy, prepared (can use the cheap packaged kind)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cook ground beef in skillet with onion. When beef is browned, stir in potatoes. Add garlic salt, garlic powder, pepper, and parsley. Cook until potatoes are a little soft, but still have a tiny crunch (they will cook completely when baking.) Unroll pie crusts and put a good amount of filling on half of the crust. Fold the crust over the filling, seal, and place on a greased cookie sheet (so it looks like a big calzone.) Repeat with second crust. (Or you can make smaller pasties like I did.) Make a couple small slits in the top of each crust. Bake for 14-20 min. or until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven, spread butter on top if desired, then cut in half and serve. Serve with gravy or ketchup.