Nothing warms the heart of a Australian like a meat pie. A tradition shared with Grandparents for a Saturday lunch, a must to be consumed at an Aussie sporting event, and a desperate desire after a few too many. The Aussie meat pie provides comfort. In need of some comfort food and far from the Aussie shores with a good bakery selling meat pies I had to go to the effort [with the help of the Husband] of making them myself. Pretty easy really, they just take a little time to put together.

Make a stew of your favorite kind. Here are a few ideas: Guinness, Cheese & Steak; Curried Chicken; Beef Burgundy; Lamb & Rosemary with Red Wine; or anything that you can cook-up in a crock-pot will work too.

To make the casing for the pie use some store-bought ready rolled puff pastry. All you need to do is line some pie tins with puff pastry on the bottom, add in some warm filling, add-on a lid and seal up the pastry. Then cook in the oven at 350*F for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.

Once cooked serve it with some tomato sauce [not ketchup] and add a side of warm peas. I prefer to eat my with my hands, but my husband likes to go at it with a knife and fork. Warning – pie eating with the hands is a skill, one that we are taught as kids in Australia growing up, it can get very messy.

Want to read more about Aussie Pies? Here are a few blog posts to check out: Pie in the Sky; Wikipedia – Aussie / NZ Pies; head head here in the USA to buy online or visit them in NYC; and love this method for making mini pies.

This is great for fast meals during the week, for using up leftovers, and is an easy introduction into cooking, providing a fun yet casual & impromptu gathering of friends – get them to do the work. There really are no rules for what you can wrap into the rice paper, you can make them with fruit, add in lettuce, whatever you fancy and think will taste good rolled together – just go for it. Here is my take on the dish:

For the basics you will need the following:

• 1 packet – Vermicilli [rice] noodles [cooked according to the directions]
• 1 packet – Spring roll wrappers
• 1 bunch – Basil
• 1 bunch – Cilantro
• 1 bottle – Sriracha sauce
• 1 bottle – Sweet chili sauce
• 1 bottle – Hoisin sauce

For everything else it is up to you and what is leftover in the fridge, but here are some ideas:

• 1 small – Cucumber cut into long thin slices [fancy terms -' julienne' or 'matchstick' style]
• 1 medium – Carrot cut into matchsticks
• 1 packet – Bean sprouts
• 1-2 chicken breasts – Cooked and shredded [this is where I use left overs]
• 5-10 shrimp – Cooked & peeled

PART ONE: Prepare all the ingredients and have them laid for easy access as this is all about assembling.
PART TWO: Fill a large bowl / pot with room temperature water to soak the spring roll / rice paper wrappers in.
PART THREE: Take rice wrapper, place it in the water and let it soak for 10-15 seconds until it is pliable.
PART FOUR: Take it out of the water and place it on the counter or a plate, don’t worry about the water it will continue to soak into the wrapper.
PART FIVE: Layer all your ingredients onto the wrapper at one end leaving some space to fold in the edges. I like to add a little sauce like Hoisin, mixed with a little fish sauce to flavor the noodles before I start rolling.
PART SIX: Once you have all the items you want into the wrapper, fold the sides in, and then start rolling. And another trick is to add some extra herbs 2/3 way through rolling so that you can seem them through the wrapper.
PART SEVEN: You can then cut the roll, or just dip and eat. SIMPLE.

Next time you are at the supermarket grab the ‘basics’ so you have them on hand, and when in doubt for what to do for dinner with a pile of left overs – SPRING ROLLS !