Irish meat pie! MMMMM..... Perfect for those Fall evenings.

Hi everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I've got a nice Fall recipe for the meat eaters among us. I love salmon pie but this is a great twist on that. Now, I'm calling this Irish because the person who gave me the recipe is Irish and they swear it's unique to Ireland. If that's not the case and it's actually from Italy... well, it's still tasty!

 So, one spring form pan.  Before we start on the pie dough, boil 5-6 eggs. Let them cool.

 Make a pie crust with 4 cups of flour, 2 tsp salt,

 5 tbs butter, 1/3 cup shortening. Blend with your fingers and add 2/3 cup cold water until you get a nice dough. Chill for 30 minutes.

 1lb pork sausage (I used Italian, but you can use any flavor)

Somehow, I missed a picture but there are two chicken breasts, cut up plus 9 oz diced ham, plus the sausage in there. Add 1 tsp thyme, 1 tsp sage, 1/8 tsp clove, 1/2 tsp lime zest, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper. If you use unsalted or unseasoned pork sausage, I'd increase the salt to 1/2 tsp. The ham has plenty of salt.

                                           
Blend together, and then add in two eggs. Stir until it sticks together.

 Take the pie dough and roll it out as thin as possible (Ignore my pie dough. It wasn't cooperating.) Layer 2/3 of the meat mix in the bottom. Lay the eggs on top.

 Add the last 1/3 of the meat mix so the eggs are covered.

 Roll out the last o the pie dough and make a top. I asked my oldest to put some kind of decoration on top while I went to supervise the flying fire lanterns my son made.

We didn't dare let it go since most of our state is on fire, but it did fill with hot air and float around which was very fun! You can't see the little kids underneath but they're down there, waiting for their hair to catch on fire. LOL

And so I came back in the kitchen to find my daughter has added the Batman symbol to the top. Oooookay. And into the oven it goes at 400F for an hour. After an hour, adjust the heat down to 350F and bake another 30 minutes. After that, chill overnight. Then cut!

Here's a a pic I found at bakingmad.com of mini pies. These would be really cute....

Anyway, here it is, ready to be sliced.

 And... there's an egg!

 I really like the way this looks. Very cool. My kids weren't really crazy about the sage-thyme-clove combo, but it was a unique dish. When we're bored with the usual, we're going to make it again!
I know we were supposed to eat them with some sort of sweet/spicy chutney but we just used the great American condiment... ketchup!!

OK, until next time, my friends! Feel free to visit my Mary Jane Hathaway facebook page at Pride, Prejuduce and Cheese Grits or Virginia Carmichael.

My Christian contemporary romance 'Leaving Liberty' is on a .99 sale right now so pop on over to Amazon if you like the blurb below!

At eighteen, Daisy McConnell left Liberty, Colorado and never looked back. The only bright spot in a childhood of neglect and loneliness was the town librarian, Marie. Now settled as a teacher in sunny Fresno, Daisy does her best to forget everything about Liberty including her drunk father, her MIA mother, and the town she hated with every beat of her heart. 

Lane Bennett’s life as a small town cop is pretty close to perfect. He’s got his dog, a pretty date when he needs one, and plenty of time to fish on the weekends. No other place can compare to his hometown and he’s happy to devote his life to keeping the folks of Liberty safe. When Marie passes away, Lane knows one of the best parts about living in Liberty is gone, along with the old Carnegie library. It needs repairs the city can’t afford and the city managers won’t pay the new flood insurance. It’s too bad but safety comes first. 

When Daisy comes home for Marie’s funeral and hears the only safe place she knew as a child is going to close, she refuses to let it happen. She hatches a plan to save the old library, run the summer reading program, and keep Marie’s legacy alive. 

Nothing can go wrong with this plan... Only that she's renting Lane's cabin, he's winning her heart, her dad wants to reconcile, and it just won't stop raining. 

By the time the river jumps the banks, there's a whole lot more drama going in Liberty than a spring flood. The town pulls together to save the library, the quilt holds a startling secret, and two young people in love must decide if NEVER really means FOREVER. 

She once vowed never to come home and he’s vowed never to leave. Daisy and Lane discover together that true love happens when you least expect it and you should 'never say never' in Liberty.