Open Beef and Chorizo Pies

I made about 70 of these pies, and still had some of the mince mixture left over, so my quantities may be a bit off here. If you try to make these, you may therefore need to make a little less of the mixture. Or else, just pop the left over in the freezer like I did.

Otherwise, these were delicious and most seemed to be snapped up by our guests.

Ingredients

8 sheets shortcrust pastry
2 eggs lightly beaten
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 brown onions finely chopped
3 cloves garlic crushed
3 chorizo sausages finely chopped
1kg beef mince
3 tins of crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup chicken stock
Dash Worcheshire sauce
2 teaspoons hot paprika
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
Salt and pepper

Method

To make the pastry cases, preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Use a round pastry cutter to cut rounds from the pastry. Line mini cupcake tins with the pastry. Stuff pastry with scrunched up baking paper to ensure it keeps its shape. Bake in the oven until just golden (about 10 minutes). Remove baking paper and brush the inside of each case with egg. Bake for another 5-10 minutes. Allow to cool.

For the filling, heat the olive oil in a large fry pan. Fry the onion and garlic until soft. Add the chorizo and fry until crisp. Add the mince and brown, breaking up any lumps. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, stock, Worcheshire sauce, paprika, basil and oregano. Simmer for approximately 40 minutes or until most liquid has evaporated.

Fill pastry cases with mince mixture just before serving. Re-heat mince mixture if necessary.