Recipe: Kangaroo Pie With Bush Tomato Sauce from Warndu Mai

It couldn’t get any more Australian if we tried. Pie, check. Sauce, check. Kangaroo, check. We also make party-pie versions of this. Aussie party, check.

From Broadsheet

Rebecca Sullivan and Damien Coulthard want to get more native ingredients into your kitchen. Their new cookbook, Warndu Mai, features more than 80 doable recipes, including this delicious all-Aussie comforter, complete with a touch of Vegemite.

It couldn’t get any more Australian if we tried. Pie, check. Sauce, check. Kangaroo, check. We also make party-pie versions of this. Aussie party, check.

Kangaroo pie

Prep time: 30 minutes 
Cooking time: 1 hour 
Serves 6–8

Ingredients

For the pastry:

• 500g plain flour, plus extra for rolling
• 2 tsp roasted ground wattleseed 
• Pinch of fine sea salt
• 280g cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 small eggs whisked with 2 tbsp milk, for egg wash

For the pie filling:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large brown onion, finely chopped
• 500g kangaroo mince
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 3⁄4 cup kangaroo or beef stock
• 1⁄2 cup Bush Tomato Sauce (see below) 
• 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 3 tbsp barbeque sauce
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 lemon myrtle leaf
• 1 tsp Vegemite
• 2 x 400g tins kidney beans, drained
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Roasted wattleseed, for sprinkling

Method

To make the pastry:

• In a food processor, blitz the flour, ground wattleseed and a pinch of salt together for a few seconds. Add the butter and blitz again until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Whisk together the egg yolks and 3 tbsp of water, then mix in with the pastry until it forms a ball. Wrap the pastry in plastic wrap and leave it to rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Before using, remove the pastry from the fridge to bring it to room temperature.

Note: You can make the pastry the day before, as long as you take it out of the fridge at least an hour before using to bring it to room temperature.

To make the pie filling: 

• Place a saucepan over medium heat, add the olive oil and onion and cook until soft. Increase the heat a little and add the mince, making sure to break it up into small bits. Cook until just browned, stirring with a wooden spoon often so it does not stick to the pan. Mix the cornflour and 1 tbsp of stock to form a paste, add to mince, then slowly add the remaining stock. Add all the sauces, bay and lemon myrtle leaves, Vegemite and drained beans, and stir through. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium–low and simmer for 5–10 minutes, or until thick. Remove the bay and lemon myrtle leaves, season with salt and pepper to taste, and set aside to cool while you prepare the pie dish.

• Preheat the oven to 200°C or 180°C for fan-forced. Place a baking tray in the oven. Grease a 23cm round by 5cm deep pie dish with a little butter.

• Once the pastry is at room temperature, roll it out thinly, to about 3–4mm thickness, on a well-floured surface. Place into the pie dish. Always add an extra 1–2cm overhang all round because the pastry will shrink when baked. Then use the dish as a guide to cut out the pastry lid, again making sure you have an overhang on the lid too.

• Place the pastry base in the dish, prick the base with a fork then spoon in the cooled filling so that it is level with the top of the dish. Don’t overfill. Brush the pastry rim with a little egg wash, then drape the pastry lid over it, pinching the edges to seal. Make 4 tiny slashes in the centre of the lid, then brush with the egg wash.

• Bake for 35–45 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown. Reduce the heat by 10–20°C after about 20 minutes. Remove the pie from the oven and leave it to rest for about 10 minutes before cutting. Sprinkle with roasted wattleseed and serve with Bush Tomato Sauce.

Bush Tomato Sauce

Prep time: 5 minutes 
Cooking time: 15 minutes 
Makes 500ml

Ingredients 

• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced 
• Bunch of wild basil, leaves torn
• 3 x 400g tins of good quality whole plum tomatoes
• 1 tbsp brown sugar 
• 3 sprigs of sea rosemary, chopped, leaves only, stems removed and discarded 
• 4 tbsp finely chopped bush 
tomato (about 20 dried bush tomatoes) or 4 tbsp of dried bush tomato
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar 
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Note: This is a quick sauce and is thin. If you want a thicker sauce, keep reducing it until you get the consistency you are happy with.

Method 

1. Place a large non-stick frypan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the garlic, and once it begins to colour lightly, add the basil and tinned tomatoes. Using the back of a spoon, squash the tomatoes as much as you can. Stir in the sugar, rosemary, bush tomato and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then remove the pan from the heat.

2. Strain the sauce through a coarse sieve into a bowl, using a wooden spoon to push any larger bits of tomato through. Discard the basil and garlic that will be left in the sieve. Pour the sauce back into the pan, bring to the boil again, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Allow to cool then store the sauce in a clean jar in the fridge – it’ll keep for a week or so, and you can also freeze it in portions.

 

Bush Tomato

 

Extracted from Warndu Mai (Good Food) by Rebecca Sullivan and Damien Coulthard, published by Hachette Australia, hardback, RRP $45. Photography by Luisa Brimble.

 

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Get creative with your pie and try some of our incredible Native Australian herbs and spices..