Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Using up the box with Pasty!

I found another amazing way to use up the box: traditional Michigan UP (that's Upper Peninsula) Pasty! What's a pasty? Basically pie-like crust folded in half & sealed over a filling usually made of cubed beef stew meat, and thinly sliced potatoes, carrots & onions. And I think it's the perfect dish for many of my CSA veggies! This time I stuck with a more traditional route, but I have visions of using cooking greens, summer squash and other veggie delights! Never made a pasty before and want to give it a try? I didn't exactly use a recipe but here's what I did.

Pasty
Refrigerated pie crust, 1-2 packages or enough home-made pie crust to make 3-4 crusts.
1 lb ground beef
4-5 small carrots, thinly sliced
3 small red potatoes, thinly sliced
1 small sweet potato, thinly sliced
1 small onion, thinly sliced
Worcestershire sauce
seasoning salt (I swear by Krazy Jane's Mixed Up Salt)
a bit of vegetable broth

Mix the raw beef, veggies, Worcestershire sauce, seasoning salt, and a few spoonfuls of vegetable broth. Pile it on half of the rolled out crust. Fold the crust over and fold over edges to seal tightly. Cut three slits in the top of the crust. You'll probably find you have enough filling for 3-4 pasties. Bake at 350 for about an hour. About 10 minutes before it's done use a pastry brush to generously brush the crust with broth, making sure to let some get into the pasty. This allows it to brown lightly, and adds some moisture to the filling.

You can really substitute anything you want for filling in these. If you try anything creative with your seasonal veggies I'd love to hear about it!

3 comments:

  1. That is a good deal. And the quality of what you're getting is so much better. Plus, you are helping to support small family farmers who need all the help they can get.

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  2. Have you ever used red beets in your pasties? I've only ever made the traditional beef pasties but have some CSA beets to use this week. I wasn't sure how it would turn out and am a little risk averse.

    Thanks!

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  3. What a great idea! I haven't tried that but now I'm intrigued. I did a quick search (good ol' google!) and found this recipe:
    http://beef.betterrecipes.com/red-flannel-hash.html

    Even though it uses corned beef (not ground beef) it does make it seem like perhaps the typical pasty root veggies would be good with the beets & beef.

    If you give it a try let me know!!! I'd love to hear how it goes!

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