A woman at the local farmers' market sells wonderful savory pastries, full of chicken, beef, and vegetables. Since I avoid commercial meat whenever I can, I buy her veggie pastries now and then for a quick lunch, with a ginger scone on the side.
Having quick meals at home, particularly since I often juice have juice, fruit, or cheese for lunch, was particularly appealing since my mother, who is 90, doesn't "graze" like I do all day long. I decided to turn my own hand to these succulent savories.
I looked up Cornish Pasty online and discovered that the real deal, real honest-to-goodness pasties, use only about four ingredients: chopped beef, potatoes, swedes (rutabagas), and onions, with a little salt and pepper thrown in. Well..I used carrots and celery as well. First I tried an all-butter crust. It worked, but was a little tougher than I'd like. Then I decided to pull out the stops and use lard for the crust. Omigosh! Why did we ever believe the "experts" who said lard is bad for us? The crusts are light and flaky, and the taste divine!
To some of the pasties I added chopped up turkey. Today I added fresh ricotta cheese and chunks of apple. They turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. My mother, though, for whom I've ostensibly done all this, wants gravy in them, thank you very much.
Next time. For now, i have enough to freeze and keep handy for a month or two. They're stored in the freezer, right next to the zuccini lasagna and the eggplant parmesan. Life is good.
Having quick meals at home, particularly since I often juice have juice, fruit, or cheese for lunch, was particularly appealing since my mother, who is 90, doesn't "graze" like I do all day long. I decided to turn my own hand to these succulent savories.
I looked up Cornish Pasty online and discovered that the real deal, real honest-to-goodness pasties, use only about four ingredients: chopped beef, potatoes, swedes (rutabagas), and onions, with a little salt and pepper thrown in. Well..I used carrots and celery as well. First I tried an all-butter crust. It worked, but was a little tougher than I'd like. Then I decided to pull out the stops and use lard for the crust. Omigosh! Why did we ever believe the "experts" who said lard is bad for us? The crusts are light and flaky, and the taste divine!
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| Chopped apple, carrots, potatoes, onion, and rutabaga |
To some of the pasties I added chopped up turkey. Today I added fresh ricotta cheese and chunks of apple. They turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. My mother, though, for whom I've ostensibly done all this, wants gravy in them, thank you very much.
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| The finished pasties |
Next time. For now, i have enough to freeze and keep handy for a month or two. They're stored in the freezer, right next to the zuccini lasagna and the eggplant parmesan. Life is good.
The cornish pasty is a regional favorite of the region where I'm from; the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
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