Gluten-Free Meat Pies from the Land Down Under

I am a very predictable cook.  I get it from my Italian family: When I was growing up, Monday through Wednesday we ate some version of four or five chicken and beef dishes and Thursday and Sunday dinners were always "macaroni" (some kind of pasta).  I try to be a little more creative than that, plus I'm so sick of pasta that I never make it at home (I'm sorry, Grandmom!)  Since I am so picky and don't eat fish, game, veal or anything weird, my dinner choices are slim.  We try to eat beef only once a week, so when it was time for ground beef again, even I was tired of my "usuals."

I was trolling (trolling sounds so ugly, doesn't it? Let's try browsing-) browsing around the web, looking for gluten-free ground beef recipes and who should I happen upon? In the words of my youngest, "that cute GF New Zealander" Chef Jason Roberts, cookbook author and regular of The Chew.  Actually, it wasn't Jason that caught my eye (sorry, mate!); it was this:

www.chefjasonroberts.com

Chef Jason Roberts' "Almost an Aussie Meat Pie." Now, normally, I would just make a Shepherd's Pie with mashed potatoes on top, as Chef Jason suggests if you eat gluten free.  But it just so happens that my older daughter had recently bought me Pillsbury Gluten Free Pie and Pastry Dough 

 

so I thought, Hey! (I really did think that!) This would be a great time to try this stuff! And so I did.

1. So far, so good.  The dough rolled out pretty nicely 

 

between sheets of waxed paper.

2. Uh oh...the dough started breaking apart. And sadly, I don't have cool ramekins like Chef Jason, so I had to use mini foil pie plates. :(

3.  A little reconstructive surgery and egg wash 

makes 

everything better.

4.  Success!  The crust was golden and crumbly and the meat filling was savory and satisfying...simply amazing! Thanks to Chef Jason Roberts and Pillsbury's Gluten Free dough, I can add another ground beef dish to my repertoire.