More From My Dad's Birthday Dinner

I was too rushed to take many pictures of the pasties that I made, but here, in case you're interested, are the few that I DID think to take.

First, the kind my Dad requested - layers of potato, beef, mushrooms, shallots (instead of onion), salt and pepper:

 

I made four of those.  I made 6, I think, of the standard meat and potatoes version - but neglected to take pictures of them. 

Then I made two of potato, mushroom, and caramelized onion...

And the last four were potato, leeks, and egg. 

I used a tad less egg in the other three, so this was the only one with any spillage.

They were all good, as far as I could tell.  I'd also planned to make another version, if my cousin and his family were there, because my cousin-in-law doesn't eat beef.  For her, and anyone else interested, I was going to make pasties with chicken, sweet potato, and caramelized onion.  It sounded like a really nice combination, but since there weren't going to be as many people, I just put the chicken in the freezer and left the sweet potato in the fridge.  I used the onion, as I indicated, on some of the other pasties.

And that's it for the moment.  I plan to be back later today with a long overdue giveaway AND, maybe, a request.  We'll see....

Comments

[Margaret]

All of those look delicious. So used to just making 'meat pies' don't think about other fillings. Thanks for the ideas.

[Lynne]

very delicious. Now here is a project for you...

next time you make them, try the traditional crimp, here is a video lesson, really clearly shows it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9NkKQY-Qvg

How pretty is that!

Lynne

[Jacquie]

Hi Jayne! I was going to email you my question but thought maybe others were curious as well. When making these pasties, I know traditionally the ingredients should be raw. However, did you find that the bottom of the pasties didn't brown up well because the raw ingredients leached any water out? That would be my only concern...

Thanks!

[Jayne]

Ooh, very nice! Ill definitely have to learn to do that. Thanks!

[Jayne]

Hi Jacqui,

Good question! Actually, the bottom of the pasty browns just fine, and I havent had any leaking issues, apart from that egg and leek one leaking in the picture above, but that was before I baked it. The amount of liquid in the little bits of meat and potatoes is very minimal - enough to help create steam and keep things moist, but not enough to spill our or make the crust soggy.

The only things I cooked beforehand this time aroundwere the mushrooms and the caramelized onions. I was definitely concerned about the amount of moisture in the mushrooms, and so I sauteed them and let the liquid cook off so they were relatively dry by the time they went into some of the pasties. The caramelized onions were cooked simply because I wanted that flavor. The rest of the time I used finely chopped shallots (you can use onion instead), but not enough so that there would be a lot of liquid.

I didnt cook the leeks, either, and they were fine. In fact, the egg in those pasties didnt leak out while baking, either.

So I think if youve got a well-made dough (not crumbly) and you seal it well, and you bake these at the right temperature, you shouldnt have a problem.

Hope that answers everything for you!

[Laura]

Those look amazing. Is there a recipe you can point me to?
blessings
~*~

[Jayne]

Yes! Heres my recipe for Cornish Pasties!