Cornish Pasty

I very rarely eat red meat, but I do make an exception for this dish. I'm actually making these for dinner tonight. =) For those of you that don't know what a pasty is, it is a savory pie of sorts that originally came from Cornwall, England. You fill pastry dough with steak, potatoes, and other veggies, fold the dough over to make a semi-circle, then seal and crimp the edges before baking.

I was watching Man vs. Food with my hubbie one day. In the episode, they stopped at a little diner where they specialize in pasties. I thought they looked pretty yummy, and decided to make them myself. I found this site with a whole bunch of pasty recipes, which is where I got this one from. I made some changes as I usually do. You can experiment with different fillings too. I do it all of the time. This is just a traditional, Cornish Pasty, but oh so tasty. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
   Crust
3 cups flour
1 1/2 sticks butter, cold and cut into small pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons water (ice cold)
   Filling
1 to 2 pounds round steak, (depending on how much meat you would like) cut into bite sized pieces
5 carrots, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions:
   Crust
1. In a large bowl, combine flour, butter, and salt. Blend ingredients until well combined and add water, one tablespoon at a time, to form the dough. Toss mixture until it forms a ball.
2. Kneed dough lightly against a smooth surface with heel of the hand to distribute the fat evenly.
3. Form into a ball, dust with flour, wrap in wax paper, and chill for 30 minutes.  
Tip: Work the dough as little as possible, or it will become too tough.
   Filling
1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Divide the dough into 6 pieces, and roll one of the pieces into a 10-inch round on a lightly floured surface.
3. Put 1 1/2 cups of filling on half of the round. Moisten the edges with egg wash, and fold the unfilled half over to enclose it.
4. Pinch the edges together to seal the crust, and crimp the edges with a fork.
5. Transfer the pasty to a lightly buttered baking sheet and cut several slits in the top to vent.
6. Roll out and fill the remaining dough.
7. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Put 1 teaspoon butter through a slit in each pasty, and continue baking 30 minutes more.
8. Remove from oven, cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, and enjoy!

Flour Tortillas

Making homemade tortillas has always intimidated me. Try as I might, they just never seemed to come out right. Enter: the easiest tortilla recipe ever.

This recipe makes for some of the very best homemade flour tortillas I have ever tried. No boiling water, no resting, no super sticky dough. Awesome! Just know that you'll want to roll these out pretty thin, as they puff up when they cook. These are so much better than store bought tortillas and would be super tasty with Nikki's Taco Chicken or perhaps some refried beans! 

Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 TBSP lard - if lard makes you feel a little icky (like it does me) use margarine or butter, NOT shortening or oil
1 1/2 cups water

Directions
1. Mix together flour, salt, and baking powder in a mixing bowl.
2. Mix in the lard (or butter, or margarine) with your fingers or pastry cutter until the flour goes clumpy and resembles sand or cornmeal.
3. Add the water and mix to form dough.
4. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for a minute or two until  it becomes smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into about 24 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball.
5. Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat (a griddle works well for cooking more than one tortilla at a time).
6. Using a well-floured rolling pin, roll a dough ball into a thin, round tortilla. You'll probably want to roll a few times, then rotate the tortilla 90 degrees, then roll a few times, then rotate another 90 degrees, and so on and so forth.
7. Place into the hot skillet, and cook until bubbly and golden; flip and continue cooking until golden on the other side (each side will cook quickly, think 30 seconds or less).
8.Place the cooked tortilla on a plate and cover with a clean dishtowel to keep in warmth and moisture. Nobody likes a hard, dried out tortilla!
9. Repeat steps 6 through 8 with the remaining dough balls. Viola! Chewy, yummy, fresh tortillas! That wasn't so hard, was it?

Sunnys Perfect Pie Crust

Let me just begin by saying that I love to bake pies! I have been perfecting the art of pie making over the last year or so, and I have got it down. The key to any great pie is a flaky, delicious pie crust. I have tried several variations of pie crusts and many, many techniques. This one is by far my favorite one to make. It is almost like a cookie when you bite into it and so yummy!

I know so many people that will just by pre-made pie shells because pie crusts are really tricky to make. One wrong step, and the whole pie can be ruined. I found this great article that has pretty much every technique that I use to get my crust just right. The most important tips being; make sure all of your ingredients are ice cold (yes, even the flour you use), cut the fat in with your hands, not a mixer, and handle the dough as little as possible, or your dough will be too tough to work with. Here is the article http://whatscookingamerica.net/piecrsthint.htm Happy pie baking!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup shortening
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/4 teaspoons white vinegar
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup ice cold water

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In mixing bowl, combine flour and salt. With your hands, cut in shortening and butter until mixture is crumbly. You want the crumbles to be the size of a large pea.
3. Combine vinegar, egg, and ice cold water. Sprinkle over flour mixture gradually (not all at once), while stirring, until the dough forms a ball. If needed, add 1 or 2 tablespoons more water.
4. Cut dough in half (if making a double pie crust, otherwise you can use the other half for another pie, or freeze it for later use) and form each half into a ball. Between two pieces of floured wax paper, roll one half into a 12" circle and line 9" deep glass pie plate with it. (If dough tears or a hole forms, pinch dough together to repair) Trim overhanging edge 1/2" from rim of pie plate
5. Arrange your filling in crust, pressing down gently to eliminate any spaces.
6. Roll second half of the dough into 12" circle. Fold into quarters. Place over filling and unfold. Trim overhanging edge 1" from rim of pie plate. Tuck top edge under bottom crust edge. Flute edges by pinching dough together every 1/2" along edge.
7. Brush top crust with egg wash (1 tablespoon milk and one large egg, beaten) and sprinkle with sugar. If your filling is a fruit filling, cut several slits in top crust to vent. Cover the edge of the pie crust with aluminum foil, or a pie shield to prevent excessive browning. Remove foil or pie shield during last 15 minutes of baking.
8. Bake for however long the pie recipe your using tells you to.

It's a lot of work, I won't lie, but so rewarding! Enjoy! =)