Scottish Meat pies

I've been working on meat pies for a long time and this is the closest I've come in both pastry and filling to a meat pie from a Scottish festival. Adapted from this recipe.

Dough:
2 1/2-3 C flour
1 C water
1/2 C lard/ shortening

Bring water and lard to a boil, pour into a metal mixing bowl. Add 2 C flour and mix with a spoon and when you have a glob, dump it onto a floured surface. It will be hot, so be cautious. Knead in about 1/2 C more flour, or until it is not sticky, but not dry.  I think I did 2 1/2 C total. Maybe a little more. Cover till ready to use so it doesn't dry out.

Filling:
1 lb ground meat -- I did beef, but you could use lamb
1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1 small onion grated or chopped finely
1 C oats (I used quick cooking oats) or bread crumbs (I may even like this better than the oats)
1/2 C beef broth
fresh grated nutmeg
Salt - depends on your taste preference
pepper (liberal)
white pepper - dash

Directions

Roll out the dough half at a time (keep other half covered). Roll it thin, but not too thin. The bigger pies don't need a paper thin crust.

I only have 4 ramekins, so I did four ramekins and the rest were smaller pies in a muffin tin.  (I think I prefer the muffin tin pies because they cook faster and cool down faster for the boys.) I cut a circle out of dough big enough to press into the ramekin, filled it with the raw meat mixture, and the cut a smaller circle for the top. I pressed the top and bottom edges together well and cut two slits in the top for steam.

Put in a cold oven and set to 350* cook for about 40-45 min.  The crust should be golden. If the bottom is not golden, cook it a little longer. You don't want under done crust.

Mexican Rice

I adapted the recipe from here.

1 can tomatoes (I had fire roasted with garlic)
1/2 onion, chopped finely
1/2 jalapeno (I used a canned rather than fresh since they seem to have more heat)
1 C long grain white rice
oil
1-2 garlic cloves, pressed (I used 1 since the tomatoes had garlic)
1 C chicken broth
3/4 tsp salt
lime* optional
cilantro* optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Puree tomatoes and jalapeno in blender or food processor
3. Rinse rice under cold water in a fine mesh strainer till the water comes clean. I didn't do this and it was fine, but it does make for fluffier rice.
4. Heat  a little oil over medium heat in and oven safe saute pan or dutch oven with a tight fitting lid. I didn't have this, so I just did it in a pot and dumped it into a 9x13 pan when I was done sauteing.
5. Cook the onions till translucent. Add rice and garlic. Cook till rice is light golden, just a few min.
6. Stir in pureed tomatoes and broth. 
7. Put in the oven (either in the oven safe saute pan or 9X13 baking dish), cover tightly, and cook for about 30 min. or till tender. I checked mine around 20 min. and it seemed like it needed more water, so I added a few tablespoons.

Stir in lime juice and chopped cilantro if you so desire. I didn't, but I'm sure it would be good.