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    Entries in pies (1)

    Wednesday
    Jan192011

    Kangaroo Meat 

    Australian Kangaroo Meat Pie... next time I'll make extra hot food to photograph this was actually "moving" with the tugging of the plate... hungry people are so impatient!!!!!! 

    Quote of week from my husband Mark as he sat down to his kangaroo meat pie... "I love Kangaroo, it's my 7th favourite meat".

    A. who has a "seventh" favourite anything?? Do you open a box of chocolates and point to top right hand corner and say to yourself "there's my seventh favourite caramel fudge".  

    B. If it's your seventh favourite, doesn't that mean you don't like it? Daniel and I both asked this but Mark insisted "he loves Kangaroo" ;)

    Kangaroo meat is low fat & low calorie; because it is extremely lean, Kangaroo is ideally served rare to medium rare when barbecued, pan fried or grilled. The tougher cuts are diced in a casserole. 

    Mark bought kebab Kangaroo meat from the supermarket, kebab meat from Kangaroo should be from the striploin, tenderloin or rump... however the supermarket kangaroo meat was a bit of a mystery and definitely wasn't a prime cut. The resulting barbecued meat had that "elastic" snap of sinew, so the meat was transferred to the kitchen to be slow cooked. 

     

    diced mystery cut Kangaroo meat from the supermarket

    Cooking Kangaroo on the BBQ; Red wine and port pair well with roo meat, try marinading Kangaroo tenderloin for a couple of hours in a 1/2 cup of red wine, fresh lemon thyme, cracked black pepper, a couple of cloves of crushed garlic & one tablespoon of oil. Pre heat your BBQ, sprinkle roo fillets with coarse sea salt (you'll get that yummy salt crust) and cook on a well oiled grill, rare to medium rare. Rest the meat before serving/slicing. 

    Basic Australian Kangaroo Pies

    Australian pies traditionally have a shortcrust base and puff pastry top, I'm using commercial pastry today.

    makes 6 small hand held pies

    Ingredients

    1 kilo (2.2lbs) of kangaroo meat (tail, shank or roasting cuts) cut into bit sized pieces

    2 tablespoons of oil

    1 large onion, 1 carrot and 1 stick of celery all cut into a small dice

    2 cups low salt beef stock

    1 cup of water

    1/4 cup of red wine (I like more wine than this but my hubby doesn't, reduce stock to add more wine)

    1 tablespoon tomato paste

    1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

    good pinch of nutmeg

    2 tablespoons of flour

    salt and black pepper to taste

    3 sheets each of rolled puff pastry and short crust pastry 

    oil 

    6 pie tins

    Method

    Heat the oil in a large pot, brown the meat in two batches, remove the meat into a bowl and set to one side. 

    Add the vegetables to the pot, cook without browning for a few minutes, turn up the heat and add flour & nutmeg, stir for a two to three minutes to cook the flour. 

    Add water, wine, stock, Worcestershire sauce & tomato paste to the pot. Add meat back to the pot. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 1/2 hours, remove lid and simmer for another 30-45 minutes to reduce liquid. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

    Refrigerate cooked filling until needed.

    Pre-heat oven to 200C (180 fan forced) - 400 F (360F with fan)

    Line pie tins with shortcrust pastry, *blind bake for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

    Divide meat mixture between the 6 pie shells, top with puff pastry and crimp edges with a fork. Glaze with milk or egg wash. Make a few small slashes in the top of the pastry to let steam escape.

    Bake pies for 35 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool a few minutes in tins before turning out and serving. Cooled pies can be individually wrapped and frozen for one month. 

     * blind bake pie shells by weighing down the raw pastry with beans, rice or baking weights. Non stick paper squares make it easy to remove weights after baking. Store your baked rice or beans in a jar and use again next time you are baking pastry.

    Do try replacing the lamb or beef in your favourite curry recipe with Kangaroo too, it really does make for an excellent curry.

    Kangaroo mince can be used in any of your mince recipes such as lasagne, meat balls or burgers. If your using the meat in burgers it must be cooked thoroughly. 

    For an excellent 'cuts of Kangaroo chart' see Southern Game Meats

    You might also be interested in...

    a review of crocodile and kangaroo pies

    or if it's all too much for you then how about pink frosting...

                                          Frosting

    Back to baking cupcakes now. Oh and for the record Mark's favourite meats are: duck, turkey, chicken, lamb, pork, beef &... kangaroo!

    Happy Baking :)