mmmMonday: Mini Pies!

Cooking during the week can be a daunting task so any weekend recipes that leave a little extra for lunches are always welcome in our house. The mini pie maker we received as a wedding gift definitely lends its hand in making weekday-friendly dishes. In all honesty, between the filling and the pie dough we could probably just make one large pie but these babies freeze way better plus where's the fun in that!? 

The choice of filling for our mini pies was born from what was available in our fridge. Initially, out recipe called for spinach as the leafy green however we had kale lying around so we threw that in too.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup pancetta

1/2 cup feta cheese
1 small onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, diced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Dash of salt and pepper

Pie dough

Begin by lightly frying the diced onions and garlic in olive oil until they are transparent. While they are on the stove, wash, slice and blanch the kale. Add the kale to the onions once drained. In a separate pan lightly sear the pancetta. 

Once the pancetta is seared, mix the kale, spinach, onions, pancetta and feta together and set aside.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface until it's about half a centimetre thick. Here's where it gets appliance-specific. BUT if you don't have a mini pie making appliance this is the spot where you can switch to making a big pie, or use little pie tins.

If using the pie maker, use your little pie maker cutter tool [I'm pretty technical] the dough... 

...and put it in the pie maker. I used the pusher tool to try and set them. The dough just stuck to it and came back up - it as frustrating. So I stopped and started using my fingers. I only burned myself a little.

Place the kale mixture in each pie cup, filling it just to the ledge or a bit below [I didn't listen to my own advice]. Then shut the top, lock it and let it cook for 10 minutes. Sha-bam! mini pies. I'm honestly not completely convinced this appliance is at all necessary, and by that I mean, this appliance is most definitely not necessary. BUT I do love the novelty of it all so A+ to Breville and my delicious lunch!