If you are a fan of sweet pies but craving a hearty meal, try these meat hand pies. They are filled with a meat mixture and wrapped in flaky puff pastry, with marinara sauce for dipping. They may take a little longer to make, but undeniably, these Italian beef hand pies will be your comfort food in no time.
Contents
Ingredients
- 1 pound of ground beef
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 cup of ricotta cheese (buy here)
- 2 egg yolks
- Salt to taste
- ½ tablespoon Italian seasoning (buy here)
- 2 sheets of frozen puff pastry, thawed (buy here)
- 1½-2 tablespoons of fresh basil chops
- ½ cup marinara sauce for serving (buy here)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F before making the filling of your ground beef hand pies
- Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a skillet, then saute the garlic and the ground beef. Cook for about four minutes or until the beef turns brown
- Add marinara sauce and season with Italian seasoning and salt. Cook it through, sprinkle the basil chops, and set it aside to cool down
- Choose a flat surface, flour it, and place your pastry sheets on it
- Cut each sheet into six rectangular pieces, to make square pastry hand pies
- Line your baking sheet with the parchment paper and transfer the rectangles onto it
- Fill the center of each rectangle with the meat mixture, followed by ricotta cheese
- Mix the egg yolks and use it to brush all the edges
- Add another rectangle on top and gently press down to seal it with the bottom one
- Crimp the top and bottom edges with the tines of a fork
- After sealing, brush the top of the meat hand pies with the yolk again and bake in the oven until golden, about 35 minutes
- Garnish with more basil chops and serve with warm marinara sauce
If you are looking for products for the recipe, the following lists suggest some items to choose from
1. Pillsbury Puff Pastry
These pastry sheets are carriers for thawing or baking purposes and go well with fruits, meats, or vegetables. There are 120 pieces in the package, and they come in 5 inch x 5 inch squares.
They are made using the classic method of detailed layering and give a light and flaky texture to your baked goods. Aside from beef hand pies, they are also great for both sweet and savory dishes and for shaping, topping, and filling purposes
2. Olde Thompson Italian Seasoning
It brings the typical Italian taste to sprinkle over your pizza, pasta, sauces, seafood, soups, and bread dipping oils. It is made from black pepper, basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, fennel, dehydrated onion and garlic, and sea salt. You can also use it for rubbing and marinades, or with melted butter
3. Belgioioso Traditional Ricotta Cheese
You will find 11 grams of protein and 50% of your daily value of calcium in its package, with no added gums, fillers, or sugar. It is made from pasteurized whey, cream, milk, vinegar, and salt. With a clean, slightly sweet flavor, this whole milk cheese is best for baking and bread serving, or as cannoli filling and topping
4. La San Marzano Marinara Sauce
This is an Italian product for your Italian hand pies dipping sauce, following the ancient traditional recipe. It is made from fresh and genuine ingredients, like peeled tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, onions, sea salt, garlic, basil, black pepper, and oregano. This is also great for pasta, meat, chicken, or fish
5. Norpro Pastry Cutter
It comes with the ability to measure the shapes of your meat hand pies up to 7 inches x 3 inches x 75 inches. It features two wheels, the double-headed fluted wheel for a scalloped edge and a flat wheel for a straight cut.
The blades are built with santoprene, which gives you comfortable handling during your baking tasks. It is also perfect for pasta, pastry or cookie dough, or making beautiful lattice crusts and decorative cuts of pastries and ravioli
