Mince Meat Pie Recipe, low carb

The star of Christmas dinner this year was made of unlikely ingredients. Fruit and beef tongue sound high carb or unpalatable, but mince meat pie was so popular 250 years ago that it was in many cookbooks from the time--and it wasn't just for Christmas. My version cuts the carbs by using tart cooking apples, cranberries, monk fruit sweetener and a nut flour crust. The main flavors are orange and slightly tart fruit; the meat and fat make it filling. Have it for dessert or with coffee or tea for breakfast. Make some soup with the collagen-filled broth and discover how tender and tasty the rest of the beef tongue is.

Worth the time and effort.

IMPORTANT--start this recipe the day before.

Links in the recipe go to hard-to-find ingredients and directly to the cookbook with the recipe for the pie crust. (I made the almond flour variation of the crust.)

Recipe

• 1 beef tongue (I get mine here; look for farms or ranches in your area that sell directly to consumers)
• 2 Granny Smith apples
• 1 cup dried, unsweetened cranberries
• peel of one orange (avoid cutting into the white part)
• 1 teaspoon and 1 dash monk fruit extract powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 3 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
• 1/4 cup wine
• 1 cooked pie crust (I make the one from 500 Low Carb Recipes by Dana Carpender, page 436)

The day before, cut the beef tongue into 1.5" slices. Put them in a pressure cooker, cover with water and cook at pressure for one hour. Do NOT drain. Cool and refrigerate overnight.

Bring the tongue out of the refrigerator. 

In a small pan, boil the orange peel for 20 minutes. Add a dash of monk fruit powder, stir, and set aside. 

Peel, core and shred or (or finely chop) the apples. Take two large pieces of tongue, peel off the skin and discard, and finely chop the meat. 

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Put the chopped tongue, apples, cranberries, monkfruit sweetener and spices in a large bowl. Add all the fat rendered from cooking the beef tongue and stir thoroughly. 

Cut the orange peel into 1/2" pieces. 

Spread half the apple mixture on the pie crust. Put all the orange peel on top, spacing evenly. Put the rest of the apple mixture on top of the orange peel and sprinkle with lemon or lime juice and wine.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for half an hour.

Estimated net carbs:

8 servings: 13g net carb

12 servings: 8g net carb