Pasti Recipe # 3 & 4

Here is our third recipe for Pasti. Enjoy!

DOUGH:
5 1/2 c. water
1/4 c. salt
2 1/2 c. Crisco lard
6 1/4 lb. flour
1 tbsp. baking powder

FILLING:
14 c. potatoes, diced
6 c. (3 lbs.) hamburger
2 c. onions, diced
2 1/2 tbsp. salt
4 c. carrots, grated
3 c. rutabaga, cubed or grated
1 tsp. pepper

Mix together filling for pasties ahead of time and refrigerate before preparing the dough. Mix the dough ingredients and roll out on floured surface the size of small pie crust. Add appropriate amount of filling to crust and fold crust over pinching edges. The result will be a fist sized individual meat pie. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until ingredients are fully cooked.

Then try out Pasti Recipe #4

Ingredients
3 c. flour
1 c. suet, ground fine
1/4 c. lard
1 tsp. salt
12 tbsp. cold water (or more)
1 lb. beef, diced or cubed
1/2 lb. pork, diced or cubed
Potatoes
Onions
Turnips
Carrots
Butter

Blend lard into flour and salt, then add suet and work thoroughly. Add cold water and make a soft dough. Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Roll each crust into a 6-inch round. On half of the dough, build up the following ingredients: 1/2-inch layer of finely chopped potatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper; 1/2- inch layer of sliced turnip, carrot, chopped onion, beef chopped and pork, and season once more. Add piece of butter to top of ingredients. Now fold the uncovered portion of the dough over the filled portion and crimp the edges – shape of a half moon. Make 1-inch slit in the top of the dough and place prepared pasties on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour. Check while baking to make sure they don’t burn.

You might want to let us know which Pasti recipe yielded the best product for you of all four of our pasti recipe’s thus far and we still have one to go!

Pastie Myths

In the tin mines of Devon andCornwall, pasties were associated with “knockers”, spirits said to create a knocking sound that was either supposed to indicate the location of rich veins of ore,or to warn of an impending tunnel collapse. To encourage the good will of the knockers, miners would leave a small part of the pasty within the mine for them to eat. Sailors and fisherman would likewise discard a crust to appease the spirits of dead mariners, though fishermen believed that it was bad luck to take a pasty aboard ship.

A Cornish proverb, recounted in 1861, emphasised the great variety of ingredients that were used in pasties by saying that the devil would not come intoCornwallfor fear of ending up as a filling in one.

In 1959 the English singer-songwriter Cyril Tawney wrote a nostalgic song called “The Oggie Man”. The song tells of the pasty-seller with his characteristic vendor’s call who was always outside Plymouth’s Devonport Naval Dockyard gates late at night when the sailors were returning, and his replacement by hot dog sellers after World War II.

The word “oggy” in the internationally popular chant “Oggy Oggy Oggy, Oi Oi Oi” is thought to stem from Cornish dialect “hoggan“, deriving from “hogen” the Cornish word for pasty. When the pasties were ready for eating, the bal maidens at the mines would supposedly shout down the shaft “Oggy Oggy Oggy” and the miners would reply “Oi Oi Oi”.

Another Pasti Recipe for Late Fall

I have another pasti recipe for you to try out as autumn quickly nears an end.

Filling:
1 pound round or flank steak
3 medium potatoes, peeled
1 small onion, peeled
1 small rutabaga, peeled
3 tablespoons parsley, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon catsup
1 beef bouillon cube
1/2 teaspoon salt
garlic powder

Trim steak of all fat and cut into bite sized cubes. Dice all vegetables into uniform cubes. Use about 2 cups meat and 2 cups potato to 1 cup each of onion and rutabaga.

Mix steak, vegetables and seasonings well; add enough water to cover, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 crushed beef bouillon cube and 1 tablespoon catsup. Stir well. Refrigerate about 1 hour. 5 minutes before making up pasties, drain mixture in a colander.

Pasti Dough

3 cups flour
1 cup Crisco
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup ice water
additional butter

Combine flour, Crisco, butter, salt and ice water, working together with a fork or cold fingertips.

Roll out dough for either 2 8 inch pies or 6 5-6 inch turnovers.

Dot mixture with butter and sprinkle with a small amount of ice water.

Sprinkle mixture with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

If you are making pies, cover with top crust.

If you are making turnovers, place 1/4 cup filling onto one side of rolled out dough (an oval shape is easier to work with than a circle). Fold dough over filling and press edges together, crimping well. You can paint edges with a few drops of water prior to sealing to help make a better seal.

Bake pies for 1 hour at 375 degrees or turnovers for 45 minutes or until golden brown and contents are tender.

If browning too rapidly, reduce temperature to 350 and cover lightly with foil.

Can be served hot or cold. Turnovers are great for lunches and picnics!

Pasti Recipe # 1

Here in Indiana McDonald’s fast food restaurants dominate the scene but in the Upper Penisula of Michigan it is Pasti restaurants that are most visible. Whether you spell it pasti or pasty the meat pies with the hard crust are unbeatable and this is our first in a series of pasti recipes. Elsewhere on the BBL Network is my grandmothers recipe for pasti which I consider the best however one must choose and sample I suppose.

So without further ado, here is this pasti recipe-

4 cups flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups lard, chilled (3/4 lb) cut into ¼ inch cubes
8-10 tablespoons ice water
1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)

FILLING:
1 cup coarsely chopped white, yellow, or Swede (Rutabaga) turnips
2 cups finely diced lean boneless beef, top round or skirt steak. Flank would be good, too.
1 cup coarsely chopped onions
2 cups finely diced potatoes
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
To make pastry, rub together flour and fat to make a coarse meal. Add 8 tablesppons ice water all at once. If dough crumbles, add more water. Refrigerate to rest one hour before rolling out.
Roll dough to a circle ¼ inch thick and cut into 6 inch rounds. Re-roll and scraps and cut into additional circles.

To prepare filling, cut ingredients into uniformly small pieces. It’s important to have the potatoes and the meat cooked during the same time period since they will be cooking together, so cut to appropriately sized cubes to effect that end result.

Combine ingredients in a bowl to mix evenly. Put ¼ cup of the mixture into the center of a rolled out pastry.

Moisten pasty edges, fold in half, and crimp to seal. Place on a buttered baking sheet and brush lightly with egg wash. Make 2 slits in each pasty to allow steam to escape.

Bake at 400 degrees F 15 minutes, reduce heat and continue at 350 degrees F until golden.
Serve hot or cold.

A fun idea for preparing these is to use two kinds of filling in each pasty – one sweet and one savory. For example, put an apple filling on the right half. Eat your way through from dinner to dessert! To identify which side is which, initial one side to indicate its contents.

Thick Crust Pasti

My grandmother had a recipe for pasti that was fantastic and it featured a thick crust unlike the softer crusts of most pasti restaurants in the Upper Penisula of Michigan. Here’s how! The secret is to begin with TWO 9-inch pie crusts well salted.

INGREDIENTS
3-4 Russett potatoes, thin sliced
1 pound of lean broil steak, in small cubes
1.25 cups of rough-chopped white onion
Worchestershire sauce
3-4 pats of butter
salt and pepper

PREPARATION
Line a 9-inch pie plate with one crust.
Make a layer of potato slices about 1.25 inches thick
Cover the layer of potatoes with a layer of the steak cubes.
Cover the steak with a layer of the chopped onions.
Put 3-4 small pats of butter on top of the onions.
Sprinkle on about 1 tablespoon of Worchestershire sauce.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Top the pie with the second crust.
Bake at 350°F for 60-70 minutes.

Then prepare yourself for a banquet fit for a king!

Pasti Recipe #2

I have another pasti recipe for you.

Filling:
1 pound round or flank steak
3 medium potatoes, peeled
1 small onion, peeled
1 small rutabaga, peeled
3 tablespoons parsley, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon catsup
1 beef bouillon cube
1/2 teaspoon salt
garlic powder

Trim steak of all fat and cut into bite sized cubes. Dice all vegetables into uniform cubes.
Use about 2 cups meat and 2 cups potato to 1 cup each of onion and rutabaga (Swede Turnips).

Mix steak, vegetables and seasonings well; add enough water to cover, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 crushed beef bouillon cube and 1 tablespoon catsup. Stir well. Refrigerate about 1 hour.
5 minutes before making up pasties, drain mixture in a colander.

Pasti Dough

3 cups flour
1 cup Crisco
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup ice water
additional butter

Combine flour, Crisco, butter, salt and ice water, working together with a fork or cold fingertips (run your hands under cold water and dry).

Roll out dough for either 2 8 inch pies or 6 5-6 inch turnovers.

Dot mixture with butter and sprinkle with a small amount of ice water.

Sprinkle mixture with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

If you are making pies, cover with top crust.

If you are making turnovers, place 1/4 cup filling onto one side of rolled out dough (an oval shape is easier to work with than a circle). Fold dough over filling and press edges together, crimping well. You can paint edges with a few drops of water prior to sealing to help make a better seal.

Bake pies for 1 hour at 375F or turnovers for 45 minutes or until golden brown and contents are tender.

If browning too rapidly, reduce temperature to 350 and cover lightly with foil.

Can be served hot or cold. Turnovers are great for lunches and picnics!

Now you can have a feast to be proud of!

Pasti Recipe #5

Here is our fifth and last recipe for pasti. Not to worry though as we have a great many more Lithuanian dishes to provide you with over the next several months plus a few dishes that are from my campers recipe book.

Upper Michigan Pasties
Ingredients

Filling
1 1/4 lb Beef, coarsely ground
2 c Flour
4 md Potatoes, diced
1/2 c Shortening
1 lg Onion, chopped
1/4 c Lard
1/4 c Rutabaga (swede), diced
1/4 c Scraped suet 1 Carrot, diced
Water & Salt and pepper

Crust
Put the flour in a bowl and cut in the shortening, lard and suet. Add just enough water to make a soft dough. Divide the dough into four parts and roll out each piece into a circle about the size of a dinner plate. Crumble the meat into a bowl and stir in the potatoes, onion, rutabaga and carrot. Divide the mixture into four parts, putting some on one side of each piece of dough. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Fold the pastry over the filling to make half-moon shaped pies. Seal the edges and cut a couple of small slits on the top. Bake on a cookie sheet at 375 degrees F. for 30 to 35 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees F. and bake 15 more minutes.

NOTES:
* Cornish-style meat pies from the UP — The pasty (PAH-stee) is a kind of English meat pie. It was brought to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan by Cornish miners in the mid-nineteenth century. The UP version differs slightly from the original Cornish pasty in that it has more vegetables and less meat and crust. You can eat pasties hot, warm, or cold. If you wrap them in aluminum foil when they come out of the oven, theyll keep warm for hours. Or, you can refrigerate/freeze them and reheat them later. (Maybe the original “fast food?”)

* Most people who live in the UP don’t bother to make their own pasties; they buy them from bakeries and pasty shops (which are as common as hamburger joints are in other parts of the country). As a former resident, though, sometimes I get homesick and resort to making them myself.

* These have a high cholesterol content. Ive tried using an ordinary vegetable-shortening pie crust, but it invariably turns out too dry and crumbly to hold together. (Authentic UP pasties have a crust thats thin, moist, and somewhat chewy, not a flaky crust.)

My grandmother’s pasti actually looked more like a pie with a thick well salted crust. It was absolutely delicious. My sister’s pasti’s look more like the ones described in this recipe. Either way there is good eating ahead.