Cornish Pasty Recipe

A Cornish pasty is, in its bare essentials, a meat-and-vegetable turnover. It's the national food of Cornwall and can be found wherever the Cornish settled: South Australia, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and even in Wharton, New Jersey.

This is our own secret recipe, but it wouldn't stand a chance in a fair fight with the genuine article (for one thing, we're cheating with the pastry!). On the other hand, it has been fine-tuned for an American audience and/or those without experience in the fine art of pastry.

This recipe was adapted from the Cornish Pasty recipe in Easy Basics for International Cooking, Sunset Books, Lane Publishing Co., 1984.

Ingredients

• 1 pound of top round steak, cut about 1/4 inch thick
• 1 small russet potato, chopped
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 small turnip, peeled and chopped
• 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons each salt and pepper
• 1 package of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry sheets

To Prepare

Puff pastry sheets tend to break into three strips. Don't waste time and energy fighting their natural tendency! Take each puff pastry strip and roll it out. The objective is to get to a 7" square but, given the starting position is highly rectangular, don't aim for perfection.

Lightly moisten the edges of the dough with water. Place about 1/6 of the filling into the center of the pastry. Fold over the edges to enclose the filling. With a fork, press edges together to seal; prick top in several places. (True pasties are semi-circles with delightfully crimped edges -- your objective is something that won't collapse later in its life cycle.)

Place pasties on a greased baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. Bake in a 350 F oven for 40 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm with a bottle of ketchup handy. Makes 6 pasties.

Notes

Vegetarian pasties substitute carrots for the beef.