Meat Filled Triangles and Sausage Rolls

A simple recipe today but one that my fussy Miss 5 loves in her lunch box. She is increasingly fussy that I am surprised we actually end up with anything in her lunch box each day! Surprisingly she still loves pastry and it has been the one constant thing that she will actually eat for the last 2 years. I posted the wonderful experience I had with her making simple Pear Turnovers when she was 3. Sadly she stopped eating the pastries with pear inside them and wanted the pastry on it’s own. I was not going to let that happen so started experimenting… mince was my first choice and that has been the winner since.

I have found a really easy way to regularly make these. Mince is something we eat regularly each week, especially my Failsafe Mince in the Thermomix recipe. You can easily make a larger batch of the triangles than I have if you want them to go around more, I am only making a few at a time to freeze for one child with this method and keeping in mind that I am not wanting an increase in amines by increased time in the freezer. Smaller and more frequent batches is my goal.

I set aside approx 130g of mince from 1kg that I have out ready to make dinner with. Once I  have chopped the leek, garlic, herbs and Brussle Sprouts in the Thermomix ready for dinner using the Failsafe Mince in the Thermomix, I take out a few teaspoons and stir it through the 130g mince I have set aside. Once the rest of the mince for dinner is happily cooking away I begin to make the triangles. 

To make 8 Meat filled Triangles:

130g mince; beef, chicken or lamb
2 teaspoons chopped leek, garlic and veg. (see above paragraph)
2 sheets of frozen short crust pastry **

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Stir the leek, garlic and veg mixture through the mince to combine. Once the pastry has defrosted for a few minutes, cut each of the pastry squares evenly into 4. Divide the mince between each of the 8 squares and place along one corner in a triangle shape. With your finger rub a little water along the two edges.  Fold the pasty over the Mince to make a triangle. Using a fork press around the joins to seal together.

Place on a tray lined with baking paper and bake in the oven for approx 10 mins or until lightly golden and the pastry is cooked. Allow to cool on the tray.

Once cooled, place in zip lock bags or a container and keep in the freezer. When packing lunch boxes, take one out and pop straight into the lunch box, it will be defrosted and ready to eat by morning tea time.

You can also use this method to make sausage rolls. The picture above is using chicken mince, you can use beef or lamb mince too. Cut the pastry sheets in half and place a line of mince along the long side. Wet the edge with your fingers and roll up making sure the seal is on the bottom when placed on the baking tray. Cut into three for smaller sausage rolls or into 2 for longer sausage rolls.

** I use either Borgs or Pampas shortcrust pastry as they are suitable for Failsafe. Always check ingredients, especially to make sure that they do not contain preservatives 281, 202, 223,synthetic antioxidants 320, and other nasty additives. Although I have not tried it personally, there is a GF pastry listed on the Fedup.com.au website “Pastry GF: The Pastry Pantry does gf pastry e.g. • Savoury Shortcrust Pastry (Ingredients: Gluten-free flour (lentil, rice, amaranth), canola oil, whole egg, starch (maize, tapioca), sugar, vegetable gum (415), water added, raising agent (500)”