These are a great appy idea for a fall party; prep 'em and bake 'em just as people are walking up. Then stuff in your face, because MY BOB these are delicious!! No sharesies for the Torty Bites! Jk, this makes 36, you'd better. I think I am liking small bites and mini quiches so much these days because you can have a taste of something without committing to eating an entire serving of anything. Check it oot!
You will need:
I medium red potato, peeled (sigh) and chopped
1/2 lb medium ground pork
1/2 lb extra lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped fine(ly)
1 celery stalk, minced
3 garlic cloves (or less, not everyone is married)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sage
1/4 tsp ground cloves
Pepper. Lots of pepper
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Bitta nutmeg
1/2 cup beef stock
3 sheets phyllo pastry
Prep!! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, take your phyllo pastry out of the freezer. About three hours ago. Awesome! But for reals, you will need to let the pastry thaw for about three hours, so take it out, and then two hours later start preheating your oven.
Peel and chop your potato, dump in a small pot full of water and bring to a boil. Get that sucker going right away while you do the rest of your prep, like...chop your onion and celery finely and mince your garlic.
Heat a large saucepan (not non-stick: sticky) over medium-ish heat and add the meat mixture; season lightly with salt and pepper. That sounds disgusting. But totally isn't! After a couple of minutes, when it's breakable-upable with a flat-ended wooden spoon, add the onion and celery.
After about 5 minutes, when the meat is mostly cooked through and the onions are translucent and the celery is...green, add in the garlic and cook for one more minute.
Keep breaking up the meat into smaller and smaller chunks, we don't want any meatballs in these here bites. Add in the thyme, sage, salt, pepper, ground cloves, bitta nutmeg, Worcestershire sauce and stir to coat.
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| Looks...exactly the same. But smells different! Honest! |
Check your potato, if cooked through, drain and dump into the pot. Add in the beef stalk and squish the potato while swirling around the sauce until there are no big chunks of potato or liquid left. Then taste and adjust seasoning as required. How about pepper? There's always room for pepper. And nutmeg.
Set aside to cool slightly and work on your phyllo dough. You should be aware, if you aren't already, that phyllo dough is as tasty as it is a pain in the behind to work with. You have to be very careful not to tear it, and any freezer burn at all will make the sheets cling to each other like Bachelor contestants at a mixer with Regulars.
You want to lay out three sheets and spray each of them individually with oil. Normally, you would use butter to brush the sheets with, but I'm not looking to use all my dang calories in one place, y'all. Mama needs her SmartPop. Anyway, I like to lay them out on a cutting board, spray and flip, then fold in half and cut into 6 pieces. Cut along the back spine and voila! You have 36 pieces to use.
Push the oiled sheets gently into the holes of a well sprayed mini muffin tin, leaving bunches on the outside.
Fill each well with meat mixture; I like to use a tablespoon-sized cookie scoop, but a spoon would just as well. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, until the edges of the pastry are just browed.
Leave in the tray for 2 minutes to cool, then pop out onto a wire rack and enjoy! They're best hot, so serve immediately or just get them in your face. There is no judgement here, only lub. They come to 22 calories each, so that's not even bad at all!
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| Closer... |
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| All up in it's grill! |
