Happy Thanksgiving Pasties

Pasties



From the accumulated recipes and experience at his Mother's elbow, of Ken Lamson.






General Strategy: Prepare pastry, divide into balls (1per pasty), wrap in waxed paper and store in refrigerator until ready for assembly. When you are ready to make pasties, prepare the meat and vegetables.
 Prepare a place on your counter to roll out a dough ball using flour to keep it from sticking to your rolling pin and the counter. Assemble the ingredients on half of the dough circle. Moisten the edge of the dough so when you fold it in half, over the ingredients, the two sides will stick together. Make a nice twisted pattern along this seam(called “crimping”). Place the pasty on a baking sheet with parchment to prevent sticking, and poke a few steam vent holes in the pasty. When you have a full baking sheet, bake in a preheated oven about 375 F for 45 to 60 minutes. Done when golden brown.










Pastry: For 8 pasties.






3 Cups flour


¾ Tbs salt


¾ Cup Shortening...Crisco or liquid canola






1 well beaten egg


¾ Cup cold water with 1 Tbs apple cider vinegar mixed in.






Mix the flour and salt together in a med/large bowl. Cut in the Crisco or pour in the oil. Stir or mix to a consistency of crumbs*.
 Add the egg, then the cold water (a little at a time)...until the pastry forms a ball and feels moist and pliable**.






*I use a Kitchenaid mixer so I don't cut in...My Mother did this all by hand and would pinch the ingredients to get the above mentioned consistency.


** You will have to develop a feel for this. If too dry it's not usable as far as rolling it out. When you roll it out it has to form a thin layer. It needs to be tougher than pie crust because the pasty is eaten by hand. When you roll out the pastry, it should draw back (shrink a little) as you lift off the rolling pin. When it does, you'll know it's right.






Now you divide this into the balls, 8 for eight pasties. I wrap in waxed paper. If you will be storing over night use Saran wrap or something to prevent drying.










Filling Ingredients:






5 medium potatoes (Yukon golds are good) / peeled and cut into thin pieces (you should be able to see knife thru slice)


1 diced onion (I use spanish)


1 medium rutabeggar / peeled and cut similar to potatoes.


1 pound steak cut into cubes thinner in one dimension. (ground beef is okay)...I use ground but I miss my Mother's Pasties that had little pieces of beef and pork that would stick to the inside of the crust. Really tasty.


Salt and pepper optional.










Assembling the pasties:






In addition to what I put in General Strategy (above). You have rolled out a pastry ball to a circle of a diameter of 8-10 inches. Put your rolling pin under the half nearest you. Put the ingredients on the other half in this order; potatoes, rutabeggar, onion then meat. You may salt and pepper the top. I use salt only.






These are the original Pasties as handed down from my Cornwall,England born Mother.


Most eat with ketchup or gravy.






My wish is that you try this as written. Then go nuts with different ingredients. These can also be made into pies as opposed to individual pasties. Yum.
 
 
Here is the recipe I promised.  Pasties, as you may know, were carried by miners to eat as a meal.  They would stay warm for a long time wrapped in newspapers. (another use for newspapers).  So, you may not want to serve them for Thanksgiving.  I would take a pasty in place of a traditional Thanksgiving meal, plus dessert.  Let me know if there is a problem printing this.  I can print out a copy if you'd like one.  Ken