Welcome to New Zealand! I was talking to my Amazing Aunt and she suggested New Zealand as the next country. I'm glad she did! This is a bucket-list country, for sure. The pictures look incredible, and who doesn't love the accents?! From the pictures I have seen, the mountains remind me of those in Alaska. Some day, I hope to visit! According to Google, the population of New Zealand is 5.3 million people and the capital is Wellington. Their national dish is...
None!
That's right: another country without a national dish! Since there was not official national dish, I looked for popular meals, and one of the ones I found over and over was meat pie. Sounded interesting, so we gave that a try. To go with the meat pie, we made melting moments, which apparently are popular around Christmas. We also made Hokey Pokey candy. I had two of my Courageous Coworkers over for dinner as well, and we all ventured to the cuisine to New Zealand. Here's what I did:
1 onion, finely chopped
1 lb ground beef
1 tbsp cornstarch
3/4 C beef stock
1/8 C tomato paste
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp vegetable bullion
2 gluten free pie crust sheets (I made my own)
1 egg, beaten
- Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Add the onion and fry for 3-4 minutes or until soft and translucent.
- Add ground beef and cook until browned.
- Combine cornstarch and 1 tablespoon of beef stock and stir well. Set aside.
- Add remaining beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste and vegetable bullion to beef.
- Stir well to combine.
- Add cornstarch mixture to the meat mixture and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes or until thick.
- Remove from heat.
- Preheat oven to 428 degrees.
- Use one of the pie sheets and line a pie dish, making sure to leave a little around the edges to attach the top pie sheet to.
- Fill the pie with meat mixture and brush rim with water.
- Place pie top over meat. Use a fork to press edge to seal, and trim edge if necessary.
- Brush top with egg.
- Place pies on to a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes or until golden.
- Serve with ketchup and enjoy!
(Source: Meat Pie)
14 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 C powdered sugar
1 C gluten free flour
1 C cornstarch
1/2 tsp ground ginger
For the lemon cream
4 tbsp butter, softened
2 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp lemon juice
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Sift the flour, xanthan gum, cornstarch, and ground ginger together.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and powdered sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Add the sifted flour mixture to the butter and powdered sugar.
- Knead quickly until forming a homogeneous mixture.
- Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces and roll them.
- Place them, well spaced, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Gently press each ball with a fork to flatten them slightly.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The top of the cookies should be pale, but the bottom should be lightly golden.
- Let stand on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring them to a baking rack to cool them completely and stuff them.
- Beat together the butter, lemon zest and powdered sugar.
- Add the lemon juice to give it a spreadable consistency.
- Spread this cream on half of the cooled cookies.
- Cover each cookie coated with cream with a remaining cookie.
- Enjoy!
(Source: Melting Moments)
- Grease a plate or pie dish.
- Heat the sugar and golden syrup in a medium-sized pot at a medium-low temperature.
- Stir constantly with a wooden spoon or a whisk until the sugar has melted.
- Simmer on a medium-low heat for 5 minutes, stirring continuously, until it turns a golden amber color (until it reaches 293 F).
- Take the pot off the heat and immediately add the baking soda. Stir madly and watch it foam up.
- Immediately pour it on to the greased plate/dish and leave it to become cold and set.
- Break apart and enjoy!
(Source: Hokey Pokey)
The verdict? The meat pie was VERY good. We really enjoyed this. It was very similar to a shepherds pie, but the flavors were wonderful. The pie crust was delicious as well. We will be making this again for dinner... I was surprised at how well I liked the ketchup on the meat pie. I am not a fan of ketchup at all, but it really added a nice sweetness to this meal. We also really enjoyed the melting moments. The cookie part was a little dry, but the filling was so delicious and together just melted in your mouth. These were also pretty easy to make, so they could become a fun cookie to do when you need something quick. We were not a fan of the Hokey Pokey. This tasted like burnt sugar. It was pretty funny making it though - it made quite the mess! The good thing is, it was pretty easy to clean up. I wouldn't recommend that dessert...But overall, we really enjoyed New Zealand!
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