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Friday, September 23, 2011

anti-recipe #39 meat pies AKA cornish pasties

Yes, still pregnant. Yes, still impatient and crabby. Particularly with the lovely 10-15 minute apart contractions I have been dealing with for TWO DAYS.

I AM TIRED. HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Okay, now that the obligatory whining is over. Its really not THAT bad. I mean, not at 10am when the kids are watching Sesame Street. Which is why I am writing now and not at 3 or 4pm. That is when I get all mean and grumpy.

I seem to have waves of being able to take it, every other day. One day energy day, the next day sitting and playing Sudoku on my Blackberry. Today is a Sudoku day. Yesterday was an energy day. What did I accomplish? Glad you asked.

My big effort of the day was making meat pies. When I was a teenager I used to love making elaborate meals for my (large) family. (Which is why I burnt out on cooking by the time I was married. HA) I can remember defrosting a giant steak (without asking) and creating these tasty little meat pies along with a strawberry pudding for dessert. Hmmmmm...

Then I rediscovered them during my year studying in the UK. The town of Oxford has an AMAZING covered year round farmers market, with stalls of vendors selling these tasty little pies in a huge assortment of flavors (curry! chicken and mushroom! hmmmmm) Man, I need to go back there.

In any case.

For some reason this sounded really good to me the other day so we bought the steak and finally, yesterday, I mustered up the courage (in the middle of 10 minute apart contractions!) to attack the dish.
my one crappy picture before I wolfed down not two but
THREE of these babies before throwing in the
towel and collapsing into bed for the night...

First, crust. I wasnt totally happy with how the crust turned out, a little too dry, but here is how I did it.

1 cup white flour
1 cup wheat flour
1tsp baking powder
1/2tsp salt
1 egg yolk
1/2cup butter (one stick)
1/2cup water

Doing this again I would add more butter and a little more water. So mix dry ingredients, cut in butter, add yolk and water, yada yada yada, you all know how to make a pie crust, right?

Roll out your dough and cut into six circles, about 5-6 inches across. Dont roll your dough too thin.

Now in each circle add in a handful of cubed beef/steak, a handful of chopped (fairly small pieces) potatoes and a sprinkle of onions. (I chopped up one steak and four potatoes - far too many, maybe do two - and a quarter of an onion.) Place a pat of butter on top of the mixture and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Now to close up your pasty (which is what they are called here in the Midwest) wet the edges and press together, folding one edge over the other. You can crimp the edges to be pretty or press with a fork. I didnt do any of this, nor did I remember to moisten the edges because at this point the contractions were quite painful, the kids were going bonkers and I was losing it. Make sure you put a few slits in each pie to let steam out. I did remember that part. Oh, and you can paint the crust with milk or egg yolk or butter to get a crispier finish. I of course didn't do this, in the state I was in, but dada did when he came home as they were finishing up baking.

Bake your pies for 10 minutes at 450 then reduce to 350 and cook for 30-35 minutes. or until the potatoes are soft inside.

Let them cool a bit.

Now eat. With a nice glass of red wine (which I DID have a spot of last night)

Lord have mercy I hope this is my last non-introducing-baby post. GOD HELP US ALL IF I DONT HAVE THIS BABY THIS WEEKEND.

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