Chicken and Sausage Meat Pies

Leftover!. I think they just might be the most fun art medium to work with, at least for me. They are so versatile. All you need to do is put your thinking cap on and use your imagination, then watch it all play it in front of you. Who knows what you’ll get, but most of the time, they end up being pretty amazing. :)

My latest leftover venture, used up quite a few leftovers from my fridge. The “Queen” an I had so much fun making these tasty chicken and sausage meat pies. 

I used my leftover chicken from my Southwestern Chicken Pitas Southwestern Chicken Pitas and mixed it with some leftover sausage and bell peppers to make my filling for my meat pies. I also added some corn, rice, garlic and roasted Hatch chilies to the mix. 

I cooked everything all together until the peppers and corn were tender, while my rice was cooking. When everything was done, I tossed it all together for my filling.

I made my famous go-to dough and let it set in the refrigerator for about an hour before rolling it out very thin and fitting it into my muffin pans. I made two batches so I would have enough to make a topping for the pockets as well. I made these in the same way I made my Spanish meat pies awhile ago, when we had our tapas party. Spanish Meat Pies

I rolled the dough out very thin, then rolled it again before placing the dough into my muffin pans. The keys to a light, flaky dough are COLD butter, cubed and a very thin dough. When my muffin pans were filled with the dough, I added as much filling as the dough cups would hold, about 2 heaping TBSP. I rolled out more dough, again very thin, and added it to the tops of each cup. Make sure to really seal the tops to the meat pies before baking, or they will fall apart. Then with a serrated knife, I sliced a couple of slashes into the top of each pie to allow for the gases to evaporate while baking.

When you are ready to bake these meat pies, preheat the oven to 375*F or 191*C. Brush the meat pies with an egg wash then bake for about 30 or so minutes, or until they are golden brown and done. I made them a day in advance before baking them. I removed them from the fridge about 1/2 hour before baking them, and brushed them with an egg wash right before placing them in the oven. 

Once again, they were a delicious hit and went a-wining with us on our latest wining adventure to our favorite winery, InVINtions. They travel very well. I baked them right before we left, and as soon as I took them out of the oven, off we went. They were still warm when we arrived at InVINtions. 

Happy New Year everyone. May 2024 be filled with happiness, good health and prosperity for all. And for those of you caught in the middle of this BIG FREEZE, like me, please, stay inside and stay warm and stay safe. ’Til next time.