So last night I mastered the art of making pastys (pasties?), because the dough wouldn't roll out right for pie crust and I wanted pot pies, dammit. I used
this recipe for a butter and shortening crust, with only two changes: the proportions of butter and shortening are reversed, and I subbed in a tablespoon of white vinegar for the first tablespoon of water. It was a delicious, almost shortbread sort of crust, though as noted it was too sticky and prone to tearing to roll out into a pie pan.
Instead, I divided each of the disks of dough in two, rolled them a bit thicker, and prodded and pinched them into bowl shapes. I then added my pot pie filling into two of the bowls, inverted the other two over the top of 'em, and pinched the dough shut to form a seal. For some reason pinching the dough was deeply deeply satisfying. Remembering (at the last minute) to poke holes in the top with a fork, I then stuck 'em in the oven, preheated to 350, for one hour, and they came out gorgeous and delicious. A little dry and crumbly, but putting some gravy in with the filling next time ought to help.
For my filling, I took:
2/3rds of a pound of ground beef
1/4th of a white onion, minced fine
1/2 a bulb of garlic, minced fine
1/4th tsp Old Bay
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1 tsp rubbed sage
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp dill
1/2 tsp marjoram
and fried them up on medium high in butter and worcestershire sauce (with just a little vegetable oil added when they started sticking to the pan). After the meat was browned well and the onion was soft and translucent, I turned it down to simmer and added
1 12-oz package microwaved sweet corn in butter sauce (already cooked),
something like 1/3rd of a cup of spinach
something like 1/4th of a cup of shredded mild cheddar cheese
And simmered the mix for five to ten minutes.
IMPORTANT NOTE: er, this was actually too much filling -- I could have filled three pasties instead of two. But I am too lazy to reduce this recipe by one third, so you'll have to do it.
Likewise, there should really be some sort of gravy or sauce in this as well, but, I was lazy.
In any case: the end product turned out beautifully.
( Three large pictures )