The First Post & Meat Pie

Hello and welcome!

This is my very first post on my fledgling food blog, and I must say I am very excited.
I live alone, so making interesting food can be a bit of a hassle when you're dining solo, but this week I have had someone come and stay, and suddenly cooking was fun again.  So this week has been a very busy culinary week for my tiny kitchen.  I have tried out many new recipes and types of food I have never made before, so I thought that would be the perfect place to start.

This is where the magic happens.

Dinner tonight was a twist on a British meat pie.  Having only ever eaten a pie in a shady pub in London , I couldn't really tell you what a "real" pie is supposed to taste like, but I took my chances. Having no idea where to start I trolled the internet for ideas until I felt like I had a clue of what to do.
I didn't make the pie dough from scratch though, I totally cheated and found a sheet of frozen puffy pastry in my freezer. I also added the canned tomatoes because I had some left over from cooking yesterdays dinner.

This recipe serves 2-3 people, depending on how hungry you are.

Ingredients: 

• 1 sheet of frozen, puffy pastry (thawed)
• 250 gr minced meat of your choice (I used beef)
• 200 gr of canned, diced tomatoes
• 1 tbs tomato paste (not necessary)
• 1 celery stick, cut in pieces
• 1/2 red or regular onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 tbs olive oil
• rosemary (or any other herb)
• milk/egg (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C.
2. Heat up the olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Cut the celery, carrot and onion into pieces and throw it into the pan, and cook for 5 minutes or until soft.
3. Throw in the minced meat and let it brown, then throw in the canned tomatoes and the tomato paste. Stir it and add rosemary (or other herbs), salt and pepper to taste. 
4. Let the meat simmer until the liquid has evaporated. 
5. In the meantime, butter the pie dish and have about half of the pastry in it. Remember that you need enough left to cover the pie in the end.
6. When the meat is done, gently pour it into the dish and cover with the remaining pastry. Press down the pastry edges and cut of the excess pastry. Then brush the pie with either milk or egg to give it that golden brown glow.
7. The pie should be in the oven for about 20-30 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and brown.

I took the picture a little too late, sorry.

Bon appétit.