Cornish Pasty

Few foods have such a defined and small point of origin as the Cornish Pasty. They were born out of necessity for miners as a way to take a hearty meal with them. The crust serves as a edible tupperware to encase the delicious filling, which is traditionally chopped meat and rutabaga. This is also handy in using up leftover bits from meals and assorted vegetables.

While not to fortunate to eat ours in southern England, the café in Florida was very nice as well. The place we went to had gotten creative with their fillings. There we lots of no traditional flavors, all of which were really good. But I opted for fo traditional beef, with rutabaga, carrots, and onions topped with gravy. Those pictures are still at the bottom. However, last night I decided to update the post and wanted to try making my own.

The crust recipe I used was from King Arthur Flour. When I first started trying to work it out I was really concerned with how tough it was. It was a bit hard to roll out but it held it's shape great in the oven and had a nice chew when we ate them. One note, I did have to triple the water in the dough. I made 8 large pastries out of the dough and as really happy the filling came out exactly even. I used one cup of filling in each pastry but I also ate a bowl halfway through because I was hungry. So there might be a little extra. This is a great way to repurpose leftovers. Roast beef, chicken, in my case, cooked potatoes and turnip from making clapshot.

1 recipe King Arthur Flour Pasty Dough

1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. pork sausage
1 onion, chopped
2 Tbsp. brown gravy powder
3 - 4 c. cooked vegetables (potatoes, carrots, turnips)
salt to taste

Brown the sausage and hamburger together. About halfway through cooking add the brown gravy powder and onion. Keep cooking until the meat and onion are tender. Stir in the vegetables and mash slightly with a potato masher to break them up a bit. Check for salt and salt to taste. 

Heat the oven to 350

Divide the dough in to 8 pieces. Working one at a time roll a piece of dough in to a circle. Keep the other pieces covered with a damp towel so they don't dry out. Gently brush the top of the rolled out dough with water. Top with a half a cup of filling and lift the dough up around the sides to meet in the middle. Press really hard to seal. Tim down to even out and place on a baking tray. 

When all 8 pasties are done brush with heavy cream and bake until golden brown, about 35 - 45 minutes. These keep and reheat really well. 

Original Pictures - Post updated 1/30/2018

These were from a café in Florida, each shape is a different flavor.