Steak and Mushroom Pie

Ok…so this is my last DinnerInDisguise entry for 2009. I was shopping at Nina’s Grocery in Lake Forest which specializes in Indian and British Foods. My original goal was to buy Pastie or Empanada dough. Unfortunately, they don’t carry it anymore and none of the friendly employees had a clue as to what I was talking about. They even offered Samosa dough to me, but told them it was the wrong kind. Well while I was in there, there was a frozen “pie” section filled with British labels. I was intrigued and bought a pie and some Sticky Toffee Pudding. The pie was made by a company called Piccadilly Fine Foods. I bought the Steak and Mushroom Meat Pie. The description:

Ground Beef Chuck Steak and Fresh Mushrooms. Slowly Simmered in a Rich Brown Sauce with Onion Herbs and Spices.

Well I put it in the oven for the suggested 20 minutes at 375. I took a couple of pictures and then I broke into it:

It didn’t look very appetizing. I was a mash of ground beef in a dark brown sauce. I have to be honest in the fact that I did “look” for mushrooms, but I couldn’t find one.

Then I tasted it.

It tasted like NOTHING. There was no seasoning in the sauce. The crust tasted like nothing, dense and brown.

Now….yes, it was a frozen pastie, but I have had Frozen Turkey Pot Pie made by Swanson’s that had 100x more flavor than this pastie.

Now, I have the ambition to make something similar but give it some real flavor. I will see if I can get to it this weekend.

So to my British co-workers, Steven and Julian, I assume that pasties in the UK aren’t supposed to taste like this…