British Meat Pies

Pasties are often served as a main dish, but I opted to make them as the perfect appetizer, so I cut the pastry smaller to make a perfect hand-held starter. You could experiment with other meat and vegetables depending on what is season.

While the traditional Cornish pasty is a flaky half-circle of crust stuffed with beef, potatoes, yellow turnips, and onion, this recipe is a lighter with chicken, butternut squash, and carrots.

Serves 6

Ingredients

Pastry:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra as needed
• 2/3 cup ice water, plus extra as needed
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cubed
• 1/2 cup shortening or lard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Filling:

• 8 oz. ground beef (or skirt steak, finely chopped)
• 1 russet potato, peeled and diced
• 1 small turnip, peeled and diced
• 1 large carrot finely diced
• 1/2 white onion, chopped
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
• kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• brown mustard, garnish

Directions

1. In a bowl or directly in your food processor, mix flour and salt together before adding in cold, cubed butter.
2. Pulse for 10-15 seconds, or until mixture is crumbly and butter is the size of small pebbles.
3. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in 2/3 cup ice water and pulse until dough ball begins to form. Note: if mixture is too dry, add more ice water, 1-2 teaspoons at a time.
4. Once dough is formed, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and roll it into a large, flat rectangle.
5. Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30-45 minutes, or until chilled.
6. While dough chills, combine beef with potato, turnip, carrot and onion, and season generously with salt and pepper, thyme and rosemary.
7. Preheat oven to 400º F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
8. Remove dough from refrigerator and cut it into 6 equal pieces. On a floured surface, roll each piece out to an 8-inch circle.
9. Spoon 1/2-2/3 cup beef mixture into the center of dough, then top with 1/2 tablespoon butter.
10. Take the far edge of your dough circle and fold it over the beef, towards yourself, to form a half moon.
11. Seal edges with a fork and repeat with remaining pasties.
12. Transfer to lined baking sheet and brush the tops of dough with beaten egg.
13. Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned, then lower oven temperature to 350º F and bake for another 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.
14. Serve hot with brown mustard and enjoy!

Recipe credit: 12 tomatoes