Easy Cornish Pasties

Anywhere outside of the UK, British food has a reputation of being bad. Although it may not be as exciting or exotic as other countries, British food can be good. It's simple, and rather homely, but it can be good. One of our favourite things to eat here, are pasties. The boys love the vegetable pasties from Gregg's bakery, and when we visited southern England, we had some great Cornish Pasties. It's a great thing to eat on the go, and a lot of fun for the boys to eat.

Traditionally, Cornish Pasties use diced beef of some sort, and you bake it with raw root vegetables and potatoes. I have never tried this version, but have always wondered how every thing gets cooked through without the pastry crust burning. Since I don't usually have steak on hand, I used minced beef instead.

Another traditional ingredient is Swede or Rutabaga. The Swede grow really big in England, and you can find them for really cheap at times. It's flavour is stronger than other root vegetables, it tends to be slightly bitter, but mixed with the right ingredients, it can be very good. I was surprised how good it tasted in the Pasty. When raw, it's a very pale yellow, but when you cook it, it turns a bright orange. It really it amazing.
If you aren't able to find Swede, or you want a vegetarian version, you could substitute these items with other mixed veg (i.e. peas and diced carrots). That's the great thing about pasties, you can experiment using what you have on hand.

Easy Cornish Pasties

2 large potatoes, peeled and diced

1 medium swede/rutabaga, peeled and diced

4-6 oz lean minced/ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 tsp dried thyme (or to taste)

1/8 tsp dried marjoram (or to taste)

Salt and pepper

Prepared short-crust pastry dough (see note)

Place the potatoes and swede in a pot, cover with salted water, bring to a boil, and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Drain the swede/potato using a colander.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, brown the beef mince, remove from pan when cooked through. Add a bit of oil to the pan if needed, and saute the onion until soft. Add the potato and swede, thyme and marjoram, and season to taste. Remove from heat, let cool while you prepare the pastry dough.

Divide the pastry dough into small balls (about the size of a golf ball for smaller pasties). Roll out into a circle. Place a generous amount of the filling in the middle of the pastry. Bring up the sides to meet, and crimp the edges together. Pierce the top a few times with a sharp knife to let the steam escape when cooking. Place on a baking dish, and bake in a preheated oven at 375 *F/175*c for about 15-20 minutes, or until the crust is golden, and crispy. Let cool, and enjoy!

Note: I made some short-crust pastry (pie crust dough) a while back, separated the extra into individual balls, and put them in the freezer. Today I pulled them out in the morning, and thawed them in the fridge, and viola, short-crust pastry ready to go, and it was still delicious.

Cold Snacks

Finding healthy snacks for my boys is proving more difficult the older they get. Now that they know how tasty junk food can be, it's a challenge finding healthier alternatives that they are happy with. It is possible though, and we have some sure fire snacks that I can count on. So even when they see all the other children with their treats from the ice cream van, they are happy with the cold treats I make for them.

My boys love frozen fruit. Nearly any soft fruit that freezes well will do: mango, strawberries, grapes, bananas.

Frozen bananas was a snack I had growing up, and have passed the love onto my boys. They are so easy to make. Just peel ripe bananas and break in half if larger. Roll around in lemon juice (diluted if you like) to keep them from browning. Then wrap each one in plastic wrap. Store in a freezer bag in the freezer. When ready to eat, remove plastic wrap, and wrap the bottom of the banana with a small piece of paper towel to hold the banana while eating. You could stick a Popsicle stick in each one before freezing, but it's not necessary.

Frozen Fruit Pieces. With fruit like grapes, raspberries and blueberries, just rinse them. With larger fruits like mango and strawberries, cut into bite size pieces. Then spread the fruit onto a baking tray that will fit into your freezer, making sure that they aren't touching. I like to put my fruit on parchment paper or wax paper. Freeze for a couple of hours, then remove from the tray and put in a freezer bag. This way, you have nice bite-sized pieces of frozen fruit you can pull out as needed for snacks.