Mom's Cornish Pasty

Mmmmm, Pasty.   If you're not from Wisconsin or Upper Peninsula of Michigan, you may have never heard of these small meat pies that were the workingman's meal for many a Cornish and Finnish immigrant in the 1800's.  Cornish immigrants worked the galena (lead) mines in the Southwest corner of the state while Finnish immigrants worked the iron ore and copper mines in Northern Wisconsin and the Yoop (short for U.P. or Upper Peninsula...residents are referred to as Yoopers).   The Pasty was their staple food...hearty, well rounded, filling and cheap.  And as one Yooper told me, "A Pasty isn't a Pasty without Rutabaga".

Traditionally, they are made as individual-sized pies, but Mom always made Pasty as a whole pie from which slices were served.  You can do either with this recipe, though I'll give the recipe as a whole pie.  If you want individual pasties, just roll out smaller pieces of the pastry crust and put an amount of the meat mixture into the center, fold the crust over and pinch the edges, vent and bake.

There are a lot of options for making them, you can pretty much 'clean out the fridge' of vegetables.  Serving suggestions vary...Mom always served pasty with Heinz Chili Sauce on the side.  I've used that, ketchup, jalapeno relish, sriracha sauce (Huy Fong brand) and beef gravy.   Use your imagination!

Here are the basic ingredients for the filling:

1 lb hamburger
1/2 rutabaga, diced small (or use 2 small to medium sized potatoes)
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 large or 2 small carrots, diced
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, diced
1 egg, whisked and beaten.
Garlic salt, Pepper
Few dashes Worcestershire

Mix all ingredients by hand in a large bowl, season to taste.  Prepare pie crust (recipe below), place meat in bottom crust, cover with top crust, pinch seams and vent the top.  Bake in 350 oven for 1.5 hours with a cookie sheet underneath to catch any juices that might come up through the vents.  If making individual pasties, bake for 1 hour.

Crust:

2 cups Flour
1/3 cup Olive Oil
1 teaspoon salt
Buttermilk

Mix first three ingredients in a bowl with a fork.  Add buttermilk a little at a time (start with 1/8 cup) and mix til the mixture is just between wanting to form crumbles and wanting to form a ball.   Don't get it too moist.   Divide in half, roll out first half on counter til it's a bit larger than the size of your pie pan.  Fold in half, grease your pie pan, lay the folded crust over one half of the pie pan and unfold.  Press and stretch and form into bottom of pan and up sides til covered.   Roll out the other half of the crust dough, fold and place in the same manner over top of meat after it has been added, unfold and pinch halves together, cut vents.