I made Cornish Pasties a few months ago, and had a lot of filling left over, so I froze it. Nathan requested that I make some pasties to tide him over while I'm out of town, and I agreed (as long as he would help me make them). First of all, here's roughly what I put in my pasty filling:1 lb bulk sausage
1 lb ground beef
1 large minced potato
1 medium minced rutabaga/turnip
2 minced carrots
1 minced onion
1 cup peas
salt
pepper
thyme
parsley
gravy mix powder
You can really put almost anything in, this list is just what I used. You can see why I had a lot left over. After you've made the filling, take pastry dough and cut it into circles (half large for the bottoms, half smaller for the tops) that will fit a muffin tin. I've also made these by stuffing filling into pastry dough envelopes, but I like this method better.
my able assistantLine the muffin cup bottoms with the larger circles, pressing into place and making sure the pastry reaches the top edges. Next, fill with the meat.
Once the bottoms are all filled, brush the edges of the pastry bottoms with water and place a small pastry circle on each one. Push the dough down onto the filling, and press the edges of the dough together so that it's sealed.
After the tops have all been sealed on, cut vents in the top crust with a sharp knife, and brush the dough with beaten egg. This is optional, but I find that it keeps the pasty from being too crumbly during eating.
Once all of the pasties are made, put the tin into a 350 degree oven and bake for 40 minutes or until the tops are a dark golden-brown. Check early to make sure your crusts aren't burning, especially if your oven is unreliable like mine is.
Meanwhile, if you enjoy the tasty things in life, make or heat up some gravy. I'm lazy and use gravy powder, but I'm sure homemade gravy would be yummy. This isn't the healthiest meal in the world, but it makes great comfort food. You can be pretty flexible with the ingredients as well, if you want less meat, or to substitute the kinds of meat and vegetables used. If you cut out the sausage and/or use low fat ground beef, add in a bit of butter or margarine to the filling so it's not dry.
yummy
Once the bottoms are all filled, brush the edges of the pastry bottoms with water and place a small pastry circle on each one. Push the dough down onto the filling, and press the edges of the dough together so that it's sealed.
After the tops have all been sealed on, cut vents in the top crust with a sharp knife, and brush the dough with beaten egg. This is optional, but I find that it keeps the pasty from being too crumbly during eating.
Once all of the pasties are made, put the tin into a 350 degree oven and bake for 40 minutes or until the tops are a dark golden-brown. Check early to make sure your crusts aren't burning, especially if your oven is unreliable like mine is.
Meanwhile, if you enjoy the tasty things in life, make or heat up some gravy. I'm lazy and use gravy powder, but I'm sure homemade gravy would be yummy. This isn't the healthiest meal in the world, but it makes great comfort food. You can be pretty flexible with the ingredients as well, if you want less meat, or to substitute the kinds of meat and vegetables used. If you cut out the sausage and/or use low fat ground beef, add in a bit of butter or margarine to the filling so it's not dry.
yummy
Totally adding these to my menu for this week. The leftovers will be great on the nights I'm too busy packing to make dinner.
ReplyDeleteAnd have you tried jarred gravy? I use it in my potpies and find that I prefer it over the powdered. (Haven't checked for dairy though.)
These things freeze really well. Also, the pasty filling freezes well on its own so don't worry too much about making too much filling. Just freeze the extra stuff and store it until next time. We actually didn't even mix up the filling this time, it was all from a previous batch weeks ago where we had run out of pastry crust.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately we ended up eating all but 3 that night so I didn't have that many to tide me over.