# Finger Pies



## Brook (May 27, 2009)

These make a great treat for your next party or gathering. 

While any pastry dough will work, I prefer making them with a cornmeal pastry, because, IMO, it works better for savory applications. Divide the dough into four pieces, form into flat discs, and refrigerate until needed. Work with them one at a time, letting them warm up a couple of minutes before rolling.

Almost any meat will work. I’ve made them with pork, chicken, and game. While I haven't tried it, wouldn't surprise me to find that a fish or seafood filling would work, too. In that case I'd use a thick bechamel or other white sauce as a binder.

By far my favorite is venison.

Venison Finger Pies

1 recipe pie pastry
1 lb ground venison or other meat
2 tbls unsalted butter
1 med onion, finely chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup dry white wine
1 tbls fresh lemon juice
1 ½ tbls flour
1/3 cup chicken stock
1/3 cup beef stock (can use 2/3 cup of either if preferred)
½ tsp black pepper
8-10 large green olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
¼ cup parsley, minced
2-3 tbls fresh rosemary, chopped
1 egg
1 tbls Dijon mustard
Couple splashed hot sauce

Brown the meat in a hot skillet, over high heat, breaking it up as it cooks, until most of the liquid evaporates. Add the butter to the skillet and reduce heat to moderate. Add the onion and cook with the meat until the onion turns translucent. Stir in the garlic and cook 2 minutes longer. Add the wine and lemon juice and simmer until almost evaporated. Sprinkle the flour over the meat and cook, stirring, until the mixture is thick and pasty.

Gradually stir in the stock and ¾ cup water and bring to a simmer. Season with the pepper. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the olives, rosemary and parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Let cool completely before filling the pies. 

On a lightly floured surface roll out one of the pastry discs to a rectangle about 6 x 16 inches. Using a fluted pastry wheel, trim it to 5 x 15 inches. Then divide it into three 5 x 5 squares.

Moisten the edges of each square. Put 2 rounded tablespoons of the meat mixture on the lower half of a square, spreading it evenly, and leaving a half-inch border. Fold the pastry over to enclose the filling, pressing the edges to assure a good seal. Using the cutter, round off the sharp corners. 

As each group of three is completed put in the fridge to keep cool.

If you have enough filling, roll out the pastry scraps to form additional pies.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Whisk together the egg, mustard, and hot sauce.

Lay the pies on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush with the egg mixture. Cut three slits in each pie.* Bake for 25-30 minutes until well browned. Cool on a wire rack. Pies can be served either warm or at room temperature.

These pies freeze very well, so can be made ahead, defrosted, and reheated in a 250F oven.

*For no particular reason, I make a larger slit diagonally across the mid point, flanked with two smaller ones. If serving these halved, use the center slit as a guide when cutting them. 

Why three slits? I always think of that great line from the John Wayne flick The Cowboys. Jason Lee Brown is describing how to make an apple pie, and finishes with “put three slits in the crust; one to let out the steam and two because that’s the way your mama did it.”


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## sprtsracer (Apr 27, 2005)

Dang...sounds like an empenada! Another one I need to try!


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## Brook (May 27, 2009)

Very similar, Sprtsracer. Just a different dough is all. 

I reckon just about every culture has some form of small, savory pie, eaten as hand-food. 

The similarities are greater than the differences, which seem to be mostly the protein used and how it's seasoned. For instance, compare Empanadas (which are primarily Latin American) with the Lebanese Sambousak. Geographically they don't come too much further apart. But if I served you Sambousak you'd be hard pressed to tell them from Empanadas. And the Pasties of the British Isles aren't a whole lot different either. 

Empanadas, in my experience, are mostly filled with either beef or turkey mixtures. But that could just reflect their geographic origins. In the Mid-East, lamb and cheeses are more common. In central Europe, vegetable fillings are more typical than meats. 

I'd say the biggest differences are with the kind of dough used. Basically there are two approaches: either a single-layer pie dough is wrapped around the filling (and, most often, made into a half-moon), or the filling is rolled in multiple-layers of a very thin dough (i.e., phyllo, strudel, brick, etc.).

The second big difference is how they are cooked; either baked or fried. This separates them from dumplings, which most often are steamed or boiled---with pot stickers and, sometimes, piroshki, being notable exceptions. 

However they're made, though, I've never tasted one that I didn't like.


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## drawinout (May 11, 2008)

Sounds good!


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