because i have a traditional english husband, i decided to cook him a traditional english dinner…vegan style!

cornish pasty: a baked savoury pastry case filled with diced fake meat, potato, onion and peas.

the pasties came out wonderful. i’d never had one before, but my husband assured me they tasted authentic, as good as anything he’d had back home.

recipe after the jump.

ingredientz:

crust:
some cold water 1/2 – 2/3 cup
2 cups of white flour
1/3 cup of vegetable shortening
1 tsp salt

filling:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
4 cloves of garlic, diced
3 yellow potatoes, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
frozen peas (about a handful for each pasty)
1 package morningstar farms steak meal starters

method:

first off, make the dough. mix the shortening and flour together, adding the water until you get a nice thick substance. knead it up and roll it into 4 balls. refrigerate for an hour.

now, the filling. dice all the bits up (EXCEPT the “steak” stripz and peas) and throw them in a frying pan with some vegetable oil or cooking spray on low heat for about ten minutes. you may want to do this whilst the dough is setting, ’cause it will take a while.

microwave the “steak” stripz for a minute, cut them up and set them aside. the peas can remain frozen.

now, when the dough is ready and the vegetables are appropriately half-cooked, grab a cookie sheet, and put some slicked up foil on it. pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. pull the dough balls from the fridge.

you’ll need to cover the rolling surface AND the dough itself in flour. one by one, roll the dough balls out into 9″ circles. roll it out and keep patting the flour on. i learned the hard way, if you don’t have enough flour, the dough may fall apart at a critical moment, leaving you with a “mutant pasty“!

when the dough is rolled into a circle, spoon some of the cooked mixture onto one half. then a handful of frozen peas, then some “steak” stripz. when it looks like enough, fold the dough over and curl up the edges of your pasty. CAREFUL! don’t break it.

now use a spatula to lift it onto your greasy foily sheet. poke some holes in it w/ a fork to let it vent. if you feel so inclined, smear a bit of earth balance on the outside of the dough. it can’t hurt. repeat with the other 3 pasties.

now cook the pasties at 400 degrees for APPROXIMATELY 45 minutes. keep checking them every 10 minutes to see if they are ready, ’cause i have NO IDEA how your oven behaves. when they look slightly crispy with golden-brown bits, they are ready to go!

you can serve them with some sides and gravy if that’s your thing. (it happens to be mine!) i think they taste great along side some mushy peas and cauliflower, all covered in road’s end gravy. YUM.

there you go! a traditional english meal completely veganized.

maybe it was a little crazy of me to be baking pasties in this los angeles heat, but they were so delicious, not even the weather should be a deterrent.

the pasties leftovers also make a great meal the next day, as we found out. hey, even the mutant pasty turned out alright!

to re-heat them, stick them in the microwave for a minute and a half. then wet the edges a little so they won’t dry out, and bake them at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

they taste as good as new!

Check out these related posts:

• our cornish pasty shop: VEGAN PASTIES IN BRIGHTON!
• is there any English in you? no? want some?
• english pub food meets vegan fine dining
• VBites – delicious vegan beach cafe
• vegan street food in england