Cornish Pasties

Maybe everyone else knows what a Cornish pasty is, but I hadn't heard of this dish when Chris mentioned it to me this morning as something he wanted us to try cooking. I have so much positive to say about the Cornish pasty that I wanted to share in case there are any other homemakers out there who hadn't heard of it!

It seems there are traditional ingredients to the Cornish pasty but one could get quite creative, I think. I had on hand various ingredients to put in, although not all were included this time because I ran out of space (dough).

I included in our pasties: multicolored potatoes, sweet potato, turnip, onion, leftover spiced Lima beans (in mine), and brisket (in Chris' and Mary's). And in John's--I'm not kidding you--I used macaroni and cheese as his filling, per his request. And he ate it! There were other vegetables we thought might taste good (peas, carrots, other root vegetables) and I might try a faux soy meat in mine some time.

Recipes varied as to whether to cook the vegetables and meat ahead of time or not: I put them in raw after watching this cute video.

The pasties were delicious! This was great comfort food and so easy!

Note that the dishes to be washed were minimal: cutting boards, knives, one baking sheet, plates. The pasty is a complete meal with meat, vegetables, and a starch.

Some recipes called for making a gravy to put inside the dough pocket, but I tried the simple version of simply shaking on some salt and pepper and topping the filling with a slab of butter. Chris and I agreed that the seasoning was so delicious, we couldn't see how it would be worth it to add the more complex step of making a gravy.

One could use any number of meats. As I perused recipes on http://www.allrecipes.com/, I saw brisket, steak, ground beef, ground pork, chopped pork . . . use what you've got in the refrigerator!

I did note that my pastry dough began to burn, even though they were on the bottom of the oven. Halfway through the cooking time (45 minutes at 425), I tented the pasties with foil to prevent more darkening. It occurs to me that one could do some pre-cooking of the vegetables, then shorten the cooking time in the oven. Or perhaps tent the pasties from the beginning.

This dish is very easy for a mother whose capabilities are lessened with pregnancy or in the early postpartum months. I have been relying heavily on Trader Joe's frozen entrees, meats, and vegetables lately. I am doing almost no home cooking these days! For this meal that seems oh-so homemade, I used frozen premade pie dough (some recipes call for frozen puff pastry dough). I cut up a few vegetables and meat, but it occurred to me that I could have used a bag of frozen pot pie vegetables (a mix of peas, corn, carrots, potatoes, etc.).

Enjoy!