Sunday, September 20, 2009

Making Cornish Pasties


What I actually ended up doing, culled from many internet ideas. I did use this crust recipe but doubled it and converted it to gluten free using ideas from this page. I needed to make 1 1/2 times more of the crust recipe for how much filling I made. I got 12 out of this much crust. I'll probably end up with about 30 from the filling.

Crust
4 c rice flour
1 1/3 c potato starch flour
2/3 c tapioca flour
2 t xanthan gum
1 T baking powder
1 T salt
2 c shortening
1 1/4 c cold water
Combine all dry ingredients, cut in shortening, mix water in until dough forms, store in refrigerator until filling is ready.

Filling
2 lb. ground beef
2 large white onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 c diced turnips (mine were frozen)
3/4 lb. diced carrots (about 4 medium, 2 c.?)
1 lb. mushrooms, halved
1/4 c. cornstarch
1 qt. beef stock
1 T salt (I don't put any salt in my stock when I make it, so this might vary with commercial stock)
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 t tarragon
1 t thyme

Saute the meat, onions and garlic until meat is brown and onion is translucent. Drain.
Add the mushrooms and saute a little longer.
Add the carrots and turnips then mix in the cornstarch, coating the vegetables with it.
Add the beef stock and seasonings.
Let simmer for about an hour, until the carrots and turnips are tender.

To assemble, use a ball of dough about the size of a fist and roll it into a circle. I first rolled mine to about the thickness of pie crust but this was a disaster. It didn't hold together, probably a result of the non-wheat dough. A little bit thicker kept it malleable but holding together. Place a scant 1/4 cup of filling on half of the circle using a slotted spoon or spatula. (I ended up with about 2 c of gravy left over when I strained them in this way.) Fold the empty side over and crimp the edges together firmly, pressing with a fork. Prick the top with the fork to allow steam to escape. Transfer to a baking sheet. Place the pasties in the oven, preheat to 350F and bake for 1 hour (including oven preheat time.)

I'm going to let several of mine cool completely, place them in individual ziploc bags, and freeze them. My goal is to have these in the freezer for lunches.

When I get into "Betty Crocker" mode I sometimes scare myself. Right now the dishwasher is going so I can get the last 10 pounds of plums we harvested this morning canned. The latest batch of yogurt is setting up on the stove top and a pan of pasties is in the oven and one is waiting to go in. The fridge lunch for me for the next 3 days (2- mashed turnips with pasty gravy, 1 - Vegetable curry), half a batch of cookie dough (if we bake them all at once, we eat them all at once), and 6 cups of pasty filling. We won't be starving any time soon.

Two other cooking tidbits:
  • I made chocolate cookies on Thursday night using vegan egg replacer, a mix of gluten free flours, and then the "normal" ingredients and they turned out very good - excellent texture and flavor. (I just used the egg replacer because we had it, I've had good success with it in baking, and it needs to get used up.)
  • Friday night's dinner was a repeat of the curry recipe without the cauliflower and yellow squash. I added more eggplant to make up the volume. It was again quite excellent.
On a non-cooking note, Q felt horrible yesterday afternoon and put himself to bed at about 6p. He slept through to 8a this morning. When he went to bed I was sure he was going to be down for several days, he was so miserable with a raging headache and nausea. When he got up this morning he was right as rain! What a relief.


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