Make an Irish Pastry Dough (Pate Brisee) or buy a standard pre made pie dough from a grocer. (I posted a Pate Brisee recipe in the 11/23/2010 Pomegranate Glazed Peach Custard Tart recipe.) Roll the dough flat on a floured counter top. Cut the dough sheet into an eight inch circle.
Turkey Pasty Filling Recipe: Boil a little bit each these vegetables in just a little bit of water: small diced rutabaga, fine diced onion, fine diced celery, small diced potato and small diced carrot. Drain the water off with a fine sieve when the vegetables are blanche al dente. Leave the vegetables in the sauce pot and return them to the heat. Add a couple pats of butter and gently saute the vegetables over medium heat.
Add some ground turkey meat, sea salt, a pinch of marjoram and black pepper. Stir and mash the ground turkey so it does not stick together. Simmer at over medium heat until all the liquid has evaporated and the stuffing becomes dry. Let the stuffing cool.
Spoon the stuffing on one half of the pie dough circle. Fold the other half of the dough over to form a half moon. Roll the edges up and seal with a fork. Place the pasty on a buttered baking pan. Brush the pasty with egg wash. Bake in oven at 350 degrees till the pasty turns a golden color.
Mushroom Gravy Recipe: Heat equal amounts of flour and butter in a sauce pot over medium heat while stirring constantly to make a white roux. Add some light beef broth and mushroom broth while stirring. Stir and whisk the gravy till it begins to to thicken a gently boil. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Saute and sweat some mushroom halves with unsalted butter over medium heat in a saute pan. Add the sauteed mushroom halves to the gravy.
Place some of the gravy on the plate. Set the pasty on the gravy. Spoon a little more gravy around the pasty and garnish with the mushroom halves. Put some vegetables of your choice on the plate. (Garlic wilted spinach or carrots are nice with this pasty.)
This is plain simple Cornish cooking but it is so comforting. Making your own pasty is far better than a pre made frozen store bought pasty. The techniques are uncomplicated and there is plenty of flavor. Yum! ... Shawna
