Vegetarian cornish pasties (or how my kids learned to love the turnip)

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vegetable cornish pastiesvegetarian cornish pasties

I know, I know. These are TOTALLY the wrong shape! Cornish pasties should be half circles. You get this shape by spooning the filling onto a flat circle of pastry and then folding over and crimping with a fork. But my puff pastry came in a large circle shape and I had so little time last night that I just sliced that puff pastry into fourths and voila! Triangular, samosa-shaped pasties

So my kids would never touch a rutabaga (swede in England, turnip in Cornwall) or a turnip if they could help it. How about yours? But the taste of these is so mild and easy that picky kids won’t be daunted. My daughter ate two of these and my son ate almost a whole one. Ha ha, kids. Got you. The rutabaga in these adds an umami flavor that is a little unusual to some Americans. I’ve been asked, ‘These are really good. What’s in these?’ But no need to stop there. These can be filled with anything, such as curried vegetables, squash and goat cheese, spinach and pine nut and ricotta. Whatever you like.

Cornish pasties. That comforting Autumnal root vegetable deliciousness baked in flaky, buttery puff pastry. Kind of considered the national dish of Cornwall. Frequent pub food item. Something to fill up on after a night of drinking, waiting for a train at London Bridge. For the Americans out there, the ‘a’ in ‘pasty’ is pronounced the same as in ‘crafty’, not a long ‘a’ as in ‘paste’ or ‘waste’. They usually have a thick braided edge of buttery crust and are made with fillings such as beef and vegetables, steak and stilton or cheese and mushroom.

By all means make your own puff pastry (if you have a bucket of butter and a million hours available). I prefer to buy mine and keep it in the freezer. Shortcrust pastry can be used too, and it is much easier to make from scratch than the endless layering of puff pastry. But I like these with puff pastry. Make mini ones for a party plate.

This recipe is adapted from Veg, by Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall

Ingredients for 8 medium-sized cornish pasties

2 sheets puff pastry dough, or 500g puff pastry dough, defrosted

1 medium potato, diced
1/2 large rutabaga or turnip, peeled and diced
1 small carrot, diced
1 small onion, grated or chopped as finely as possible
50g grated mature or sharp cheddar, grated
about a tsp of fresh thyme leaves, chopped
handful of parsley chopped
1 tsp vegetable bouillon powder (I omitted!)
1/2 tsp to 3/4 tsp salt
fresh black pepper
beaten egg for glazing

1) Combine all the ingredients together and mix thoroughly.
2) Roll out the pastry–if it hasn’t been pre-rolled already–to 3mm thickness. Use a small saucer plate to help cut out the circle shapes for the pasties.
3) Spoon 1 or 2 tbs of filling onto the lower half of each pastry circle and fold the top half over to make a half circle shape. Crimp the edges with a fork. You can make 8 medium-sized pasties or about 16 small ones (use less filling).
4) Brush each pasty with egg wash.
9) Bake on parchment on a baking tray in the oven for 35 minutes at 375F, or until golden brown.

The best pizza toppings. Ever.

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Brie, Thai sweet chili sauce, caramelized onions and garlic rosemary mushrooms.

If someone has a better idea. Please let me know!

I made a large buckwheat pizza and split it between this combination and homemade ricotta and red pepper. The pic of the pizza above is one my husband took. He’d already eaten half the pizza and thought it was so dang good he had to take a picture for my blog. You can of course use normal pizza dough if you like. Here is a good recipe for that. Buckwheat flour makes a thin and crispy flatbread-style pizza.

Buckwheat pizza dough
makes one large pizza
2 cups of buckwheat flour
2 tsp dried active yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup hand hot water
1 tbs olive oil
cornmeal for dusting

1) In a large bowl, mix the yeast, sugar and 1/4 cup of water gently. Leave to sit for 5 minutes.
2) Add in the flour, salt, olive oil, remaining water and mix together.
3) Mix until all combined. If it is too wet, add more flour as needed until you can work the dough.
4) Knead for a few minutes–this is more like molding clay than kneading dough.
5) Form into a ball, put into an oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and something heavy and keep in a slightly warm oven (heat off!) for 1 1/2 hours to rise. It may not rise much–that’s ok!
6) Roll out on a clean, oiled counter. It is a sticky dough and may need to be rolled out again on the baking tray or even pressed into place with your fingers. Sprinkle the baking tray with corn meal first to prevent sticking.
7) Top with whatever you like, or the recommended best toppings ever.

Best toppings ever

To make a cheat batch of caramelized onions
the real stuff takes AGES
2 onions, sliced thinly
2 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
tsp brown sugar
olive oil
salt and pepper
splash of white wine

1) Heat up olive oil in a small frying pan, then add all the ingredients except the white wine.
2) Fry on a medium high heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Don’t let the onions burn. Turn the heat down a bit if they start to.
3) When the onions are browning and sticking to the frying pan, add in the splash of wine and cook a few more minutes. Taste and add a bit more salt and pepper if needed. Set aside

Rosemary garlic Mushrooms
6-8 small mushrooms, sliced
1 garlic clove
1 sprig fresh rosemary
salt and pepper
splash of wine or beer (optional)
olive oil

1) Heat up the olive oil in the same frying pan used for the onions. Add all the ingredients except the splash of wine.
2) Cook on a high heat until the mushrooms are browning. Add in the wine or beer if desired and continue cooking on a high heat until the mushrooms have absorbed all the juices. Remove the rosemary sprig before using the mushrooms on the pizza.

Putting the pizza together

Start with a layer of caramelized onions, then the mushrooms and chunks of brie. I used a double creme brie this time but I’d love to try a real gooey triple creme brie or camembert next pizza time. Top with drizzle of Thai sweet chili sauce (not too much). I wouldn’t use a straight up hot chili sauce as a replacement. The sweet chili complements the cheese perfectly. Bake in the oven on a high heat (about 420 F) for 10 minutes or so.

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buckwheat pizza dough
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