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

The Grinch

I was starting to get into the holiday spirit a few days back.  For me it's just that things are a bit fuzzier and warmer, and there are people out there that care about you and vice-verse.  I was watching something on TV and saw ad after ad regarding Christmas.  It was like someone throwing cold water on my nice warm snuggie.  I think I'd be better off not watching TV, avoid radio, don't read signs, including bumper stickers.  Make a list of what you want to do for the holidays and who you would like to spend time with.  Come bye the house for a cup of cheer and some cookies.  I'll be in jolly old England for Christmas and New Years with Jman. 

My author buddy, Crawford, called this morning with a computer problem.  It was good to talk to him as we hadn't talked in about two weeks and I was wondering if things were okay.  Indeed they are. He and his co-author of a Civil War non-fiction book are doing appearances signing and discussing their book.  It was published by MSU and is getting some good reviews.  Next year is the 150th anniversary of the beginning of The Civil War, so the interest should swell then.  Congratulations Kim.

I made a batch of Pasties last Friday night. I would say a batch is from 6-16, although if I had made 16 I would probably have called it a large batch...no matter.  I am going to collect all the recipes I have for pasties and come up with one good solid recipe, just in case people would like to try making them.  I may make a DVD in Zee Cooking School format for distribution amongst family members.  Gabe might like to have it one day.  Of course it will have to be put on a newer format.  There is a good pasty recipe on allrecipes.com .  Everyone seems to have their own little tip or added ingredient though; In my recipe I will stick to the basics and you can embellish in your own way.

Thanks for reading...I hope I made you feel better about the holiday season...try to stay away from all forms of media or advertising for a day or two.  Just as an experiment...I bet you'll feel happier.

Yours Truly, Dr. Feelgood....now where did Nurse Shagwell go?

Michigan wins defensive struggle

My wolverines, who had won five in a row, then lost three in a row, were playing Illinois this week end.  Illinois was reputed to have an excellent defense, and Michigan had been described as having a sieve for a defense.  This hurts the pride of us old wolverine fans.  Michigan has been known for great defenses.  Usually the defense won the games with turn overs, big plays and goal line stands.  The new team relies more on offense. 

Yesterday the score was tied at 31 at half time.  Both teams were scoring almost at will.  As long as Michigan isn't two scores behind, I don't feel too bad.  At the end of regulation, Michigan had tied it up at 45 all.  The defense had actually stopped Illinois a couple of times.  Bo might have been looking down from Valhalla.  In overtime each team scored touch downs on their first three possessions.  In the third overtime the rules dictate that if you score a touchdown, you must go for two extra points.  Michigan was successful with a pass from Forcier  to Junior Hemmingway.  By the way, I noticed on the replay of his catch, he takes his eye off the ball a fraction of a second before it is in his hands.  Hope the coaching staff reads this.  Anyway,  I was wondering how Illinois would try to score their two points.  Bo must have yelled down just at that moment,"Get your asses in there and stop that play or you'll never play another down for Michigan!"  Suddenly two Michigan players, who had been blocked, got back to their feet and sacked the Illinois quarterback.  Just like old times!
I hope the defense remembers that feeling.  It electrifies millions of alumni. 

Welcome to the Machine

My old computer was having trouble staying on.  This was a few days before I was scheduled for surgery.  I really didn't want to lose those things I had stored on my hard drive.  I could probably get almost all of it back, but it would take months to do it and I knew I never would take the time.  I stored everything on Carbonite and thought if necessary I could get it back when I came home from the hospital.  It wasn't a problem that would affect my data, so I let the Carbonite lapse.  I bought a new computer at Digilinks Computers on Miller Road.

 Everything is working well and finally I'm able to blog from the sidebedroom.  Gee, still I have nothing to say.  I'm going to start practicing guitar again.  I love guitar music (classic rock especially) and have several guitars.  I had already decided to keep the guitars whether I played them or not.  I'm also keeping my model airplanes (don't fly 'em).  My boats, my volkswagens etc.  I will keep and use my golf clubs and a few tennis racquets.  When I am gone, my heirs can have a big sale and clear it all out.
 
Chris, James and Gilmour just stopped by to borrow clubs for Mike to use.  They are playing 9 holes on this cold day for golf.  I need to get moving myself.  I'm taking Luke for a walk and then I'm going to do a little cleaning.  I also want to make a crock pot meal for dinner.  If you read this and feel like visiting this week end, please stop by any time.
Might want to call because I think we have a birthday party. We do have beer though; Busch...the good stuff. 

Later, Ken

where's the Body?

I was nodding through another Sunday when I was informed there was another dead mouse(actually a vole)that needed to be disposed of.  This is one of my routine jobs.  Zeke, our male tabby cat, likes to go into the basement where he can get access to parts of the house which have only a crawl space.  There he hunts and plays with and eventually kills what seems to be an endless supply of meadow voles.  He then deposits the body in front of the washer so Brooke can find it. Sometimes he will bring it to the top of the stairs and eventually under the dining room table.  Cat behavior.  It's not too much trouble for me to put the carcass in a plastic bag and then out to our trash container.  Even in my weakened condition I can handle a vole.  That is, if the vole is actually dead!  I had retrieved the plastic bag and was ready to get the body when I saw the injured(?) animal running across the dining room floor with Zeke, Sophie, Luke and me in tepid pursuit.  Certainly one of the animals would dispatch the hated creature soon, but we were not of one mind.  We looked like the SanDiego Chargers trying to decide whether we should grab the football.  Who would give the vole even a  ten percent chance of escape?  Yet somehow it was able to dissappear on us.  I only hope that I'll be able to find the body before it smells too bad.  Please don't let this report discourage you from visiting our house. 

We are preparing for Halloween this week end.  Gabe will probably be mentally scarred for life.  I would think a child psychologist would advise not to take kids out until they are about five.  Thanks for reading and hope you are doing very well these days.

Sunny Disposition

Hi!  Welcome to the all positive, all the time blog.  In the old days it was called, "What, me worry?" 
Positive thinking has it's place but there has to be a little realism involved.  We have been having a lot of sunshine lately in Michigan and it helps with the endorphins, I think.  My stocks have done well for the last month or two, so that gives me a better background feeling as far as spending money.  I might buy my wife a new sweater for Christmas.  She nixed getting a limo to go down to Detroit on Friday night.  I guess that after I find out how much it will cost to have the leaves raked this Fall, I'll lose the urge to spend.  I also still have to resolve my computer problem.  As a matter of fact, maybe things aren't so damn sunny after all.  The City of Fenton did send out someone to pick up the dead raccoon that was lying in front of our driveway.  Death at our doorstep?  

We found a dead opossum in our shed a couple of weeks ago!!!  That was disgusting to deal with. Suhitha and Emma helped with that.  Luke could hardly wait to dig it up and roll around in it.  He  could probably use a trip to the Dog Psychology Center.  How can that be good behavior even for a dog?

I'm going to attempt cleaning the bathroom today.  Right now I am having vision problems, so I'll wait for them to clear.  I should be feeling pretty good in about a month, I estimate.

It's still sunny outside. Every once in a while some leaves fall from the trees though.  Death at my doorstep.  Happy Halloween.

A Funny Thing Happened...

Not funny ha ha.  I don't really want to know what happened, but the bruises and mental damage tell me it was quite an encounter.  I'm now feeling better about things and can think past not wanting to move.
I don't think I will dwell on it.  But if someone would like some preparation for an upcoming hospital stay, I will have my experience clear in my mind for a month or so.

Finish this later...getting some pain.

Sorry for the lack of blog effort of late.  My main desk-top computer won't turn on and I'm only now getting to the mental/physical condition that will get it fixed.  I think tomorrow I will take it apart and start cleaning and maybe pulling apart the power supply.  If it seems safe, I'll take it to the local shop or just find a supply myself, and give it a try.  I miss my desk-top.  Typing on this one, a lap-top, leads to a lot of typos. It is frustrating.

Things are going pretty well since the surgery.  The repair of my heart gives me two aortic valves now.  The original one was narrowed to about 0.9 sq.cm. which one doesn't notice as a problem until pushing one's self as in walking uphill, running etc.  Now, with the dual valve set up, I should be good for all situations.  After three months of keeping the blood pressure/heart rate low to allow the "bionic heart" to settle in. I should be ready for some testing.  I thought I might start with a round the world surf trip.  Then a year concentrated on golf and tennis. I don't know after that.  Send in ideas please.  Caio