Like many days, for better or worse, I spent too much time this afternoon writing. And just like that it was 4:45. Aaron would be home in 15 minutes. And I hadn’t started dinner. And he needed to leave the house at 5:50 for a youth activity. Yipes.
The plan was to start dinner at 3:30. We saw how well that worked out. I still wanted to make taco hand pies using the last of the Bennion Beef hamburger. And I wanted them to taste just like the pies I used to get at the little catering establishment by my high school 40+ years ago. I failed with that.
But I did pull off getting dinner to the table on time, barely. So that was a win.
Taco Hand Pies
Filling
1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ cup shredded cheese
A double pie crust
1 egg, lightly beaten
Sour cream, salsa, or sriracha ranch dressing for dipping.
Preheat oven to 400°F. In a large skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef. Remove from heat and stir in the spices and cheese. Set aside.
Cut out large circles of pie crust dough and brush the edge of one-half of each circle with the beaten egg. Spoon about 1.5-2 tablespoons of the meat mixture onto the dough, placing it a little closer to the edge with the egg mixture. Fold the top over to make a semi-circle and seal the edges with a fork. Place each pie on an ungreased cookie sheet and prick the tops with a fork. Bake 15 minutes, or until the crust just begins to turn golden. Serves 4-5.
Pie Crust (double)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup lard
¾ teaspoon salt
5-6 tablespoons ice cold water
In a medium mixing bowl, cut the lard into the flour until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in the salt. Add ice water 2 tablespoons at a time and mix just until the dough forms a ball. Divide the dough in half. Place one-half of the dough on a sheet of waxed paper and cover with another sheet. Roll out the dough until it is about ¼-1/8” thick.
Family reviews: The meat filling needed a little more sauce
and cheese, in my opinion. But as is,
apparently they taste just fine. Becky
scarfed down at least four and said they were really good. Aaron ate his salad and drank his milk, and then as he was in a hurry, grabbed his pies and headed for the door. No comment when he got home. Then later today, he made a special trip from the other end of the house just to tell me how much he enjoyed them in his lunch today. I about got up and took his temperature.
I sometimes think about Depression-era meals and figure we’ll be eating those again someday. Especially when it comes to stretching meat. Sometimes we’ll extend the ground beef by adding in some cooked whole or cracked wheat. And sometimes, like today, we’ll put a little in the middle of some pie crust and hope the family doesn’t catch on.
Alan Mitchell
Bennionbeef@gmail.com
Bennionbeef.com
435 841 7070
Links to related posts:
Sriracha Ranch Dressing (Oops, apparently there’s no recipe on here for this. Basically, stir some sriracha sauce into ranch dressing.)
