The riding season is ending and yesterday was our Thanksgiving Day. I was invited to a friend’s (Mike Fritz) family to have dinner with him and his mother. The day started with rain but did clear up shortly after lunch which meant only one thing, WE WOULD RIDE TO HIS MOTHER’S HOUSE! (note how the Abarth is losing)

The only dilemma was that I was asked to bring a meat pie for dinner which I decided to make from scratch. Since it was fall and the maple leafs were all over the back yards, streets and roof tops, I decided to decorate the pastry with maple leafs. My friend’s mom has a small apartment and did not have the oven room to bake the pie so I had to bring it hot out of my oven and ready to eat without spilling, breaking or otherwise converting it to a non-eatable state.

So I came up with a plan. First I wrapped the top of the pie with tin-foil carefully so as not to damage my decorated crust. Hot out of the oven I placed a wooden tea pot holder in the bottom of a soft 6-pack beer cooler then placed the hot wrapped pie on top of the wood in the cooler then zipped it up. I placed a towel on the bottom of my top box and then placed the cooler on top. I then wrapped towels around the cooler to steady it so that it would not move during transport. Now this is something my Harley Buddy just could not do with those leather side-bags.

The pie arrived safe and hot.

  

Now if anyone would like to taste this wonderful pie, you will just have to make it yourself. So the recipe is below…

Ingredients:

·         1 medium potato, peeled and cubed

·         3/4 pound ground beef

·         1/2 pound ground pork

·         1/3 clove garlic, chopped

·         1/2 cup chopped onion

·         1/4 cup water

·         1/2 teaspoon mustard powder

·         1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

·         1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

·         1/4 teaspoon dried sage

·         1 (15 ounce) package refrigerated pie crusts

 

1.       Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Place the potato in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain, mash, and set aside.

2.       Meanwhile, crumble the ground beef and pork into a large saucepan, and add the garlic, onion and water. Season with mustard powder, thyme, cloves and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring to crumble the meat and mix in the spices, until the meat is evenly browned. Remove from the heat, and mix in the mashed potato.

3.       Place one of the pie crusts into a 9 inch pie plate. Fill with the meat mixture, then top with the other pie crust. Prick the top crust a few times with a knife to vent steam. Crimp around the edges using the tines of the fork, and remove any excess dough. Cover the edges of the pie crust with aluminum foil.

4.       Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the crust has browned. Serve by itself, or with a beef gravy.