Finally real Snow!: Red Wine Mince Savoury Pie

Today I was in our back yard looking for some nice spots to photograph about finnish winter to

illustrate the blog, but still snow is not enough to dramatically change the landscape. That will happen until January or February, when the  sun raises again (I have metioned in earlier posts about darkness and finnish winter) and accumulates in the street corners up to the level of our knees. 

I also decided to give the blog a twist today, bringing something savoury for not-so-sweet tooth people :) It´s a Red Wine Mince Savoury Pie. I found the recipe in a cooking magazine and it immediately caught my eye: It´s a really interesting combination of red wine, cardamom and tomato (cardamom is used here in Finland mainly as a spice for desserts and sweet buns)  the crust was so crunchy, shiny and good looking that I had to give it a try today. In fact, It´s All Gone. It was all eaten at lunch...

Red Wine Mince Savoury Pie

For crust:

200 gr room-temperature butter

200 gr turkish or greek yogurt

280 gr all-purpose flour

2tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1tsp sugar

For filling:

1 chopped small onion

400 gr of ground mince 

3  finely chopped garlic cloves

2 tsp butter

1 tsp ground cardamom

400g of tomato pureè

100 ml of  sweet red wine (or port wine)

150 gr of diced feta cheese

1 Tbsp of sugar

salt and pepper

For brushing the crust:

1 egg

-Start by making the crust:  Mix butter and yogurt with a high speed mixer until creamy. Add the rest of dry ingredients and form a dough that does not stick to your hands. Knead it until it´s soft and uniform, wrap it in plastic and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes. 

Turn on your oven to 425 F ( 200 C). grease and flour a pie dish. Cut a circle of baking paper the same size of the bottom or you baking dish an place it in there. This will avoid that the crust sticks to the bottom and the pie will be easier to release.

-Prepare the filling:  Melt butter in a hot skillet, slightly fry chopped onions, add the  Salt-seasoned meat and the garlic. Cook everything until the meat has browned to a nice color. Add red wine, tomato puree, sugar, cardammon, low the heat and simmer everything during 15 min or until most of the liquid evaporates ( no too dry).  

When meat is ready and it has cooled down, add in the diced feta cheese. Mix everything carefully. Don´t cook it again. 

-Extend half of the crust dough into a floured surface with a rolling pin and place it in the baking dish. Let it rest in the fridge for another 20 min to allow the dough to relax. 

After the dough has rested it´s time to prebake it: first prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork. Take a sheet of  parchment paper and press it into the pie plate bottom, and fill it with pie weights, that means dried beans chickpeas or rice grains to hold it in place. This weight helps the pie dough hold its shape. Bake this it in the oven for 10 min.  (How to prebake a pie crust: Baking Bites)

After 10 min, take the prebaked pastry from the oven, remove the weights and pour the pie filling in. Use the rest of the pastry dough to cut long strips and decorate the top of the pie. At the end cut a strip as long as the circumference of the pie and place it all around the edge. Brush the uncooked crust with some beaten egg to give it some shine, and  finally bake the pie in the middle rack of the oven for another 20 minutes. 

Voilá!