Pasty Pie
This is one of the first two posts that I made last year just before the Christmas holiday began. I didn’t have time to post this and felt like maybe today is the right time to finally write about it. Just last night I was watching an episode of Last Restaurant Standing series where they talked about takeaway meal, and in the beginning the host was talking about pasty pie 
The recipe came from the book Eat Feed Autumn Winter which was given to me by Anne Bramley. Pasty pie is a flat, mostly circular pastry pie with beef, potatoes and onion filling. Originally this was eaten by the coal miners as lunch in mining towns of England. The shape of the pie made it easy to transport and it could stay warm for several hours, perfect for those men who work in the mines. More often, one end of the pie contains savory filling and the other end contains sweet filling. That way they get to eat a meal and a dessert at the same time.
This particular recipe used rutabagas with the beef and potatoes. I tried hard to like rutabagas, but honestly I didn’t think I could in any way like rutabagas. The flavor was too strong for me even though the texture was similar to potatoes once it is cooked. I felt like my tastebud was still immature to enjoy root vegetable like this.
Authentic pasty pie is made into individual serving, but this pie was made to serve for the whole family at dinner time. If any of you like me, who don’t like rutabaga, feel free to substitute it with more potatoes.
Pasty Pie
Serves 6
Crust:
1 large egg yolk (reserve the white)
1 tablespoons mmilk
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1/4 cup ice water
Filling:
1 pound Russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3/4 pound rutabaga, peeled and thinly sliced
1 pound London broil or sirloin beef, thinly sliced
1/2 cup packed chopped parsley
1 samll onion, or 1/2 large onion, thinly sliced
1 large egg white
To make the crust: Whisk together the egg yolk and milk in a small bowl. In a food processor, combine the flour and salt. Pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse several time until the butter is the size of marble. With the motor running, pour the ice water, then pour the egg and milk mixture until the dough forms a large clumps. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured pastry board or counter. Lightly knead the dough about 3 times to bring it together. Divide the dough in half, shape each into a disk, and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.
Preheat the oven to 400 degree F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
To make the filling: Remove one dough disk from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured surface roll into a 13-inch circle. Keep lifting and turning as you go to prevent sticking, and flour your surface if necessary. Transfer the crust into the parchment-lined baking sheet.
On the bottom crust, create a layer with half of the potatoes, overlapping slightly, leaving a 1-to 2-inch border of crust. Generously sprinkle with salt and pepper. Next create a layer of half of the rutabaga, overlapping slightly. Repeat the first two layers, sprinkling with salt and pepper and a teaspoon of water. Layer half the London broil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and water. Sprinkle with half the parsley. Add all the onion, salt, pepper, and water. Finish with the remaining beef, salt, pepper, water; the remaining parsley, salt, pepper water.
Roll the second dough disk into a 14-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Keep lifting and turning as you go to prevent sticking, and flour your surface as necesarry. Lay the top crust over the pie. Seal the edges of the top and bottom crust and fold over all around, using your fingers to create a rope-like design. Make sure to leave no cracks. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg white and 1 teaspoon water. Brush the wast all over the crust. With a sharp knife, make a few cuts in the top crust to allow the steam to escape. Bake for 60 to 75 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes, cut into wedges, and serve.
Source: adapted from Eat Feed Autumn Winter by Anne Bramley
Hi Liz…rutabaga itu apaan sih? Foto donk…please…
Trish
did you look it up already?
Comment by patricia — March 19, 2009 @ 6:12 pm
What a beautiful pie! This is the first time I have heard about Pasty Pie and I already learnt the history of it! Thanks for sharing Eliza!
I am alwats marvelled by how innovative people from the past can be! a meal and a dessert in one pie!
he he..you’re welcome Pei Lin!
Comment by Mrs Ergül — March 21, 2009 @ 6:08 am
Wah ini enak nih Liz, jadi pengen nyobain
silahkan Ret, resepnya kan udah ada
Comment by retno — March 24, 2009 @ 7:41 am
liz, your pie looks amazing, i’ve done two pies and they look so crap i didn’t have the heart to post them. T_T
you make my tummy hurt from laughing
sini yok…aku bikinin pies
Comment by mochachocolatarita — March 25, 2009 @ 3:02 am
Oh ho… cooking and baking more now huh. look good Liz.
btw, gk ikutan masbar menu nasgor? rame juga tuh Liz ampe peyut gw kekeyangan liat nasgor bertebaran hahaha
gak tuh….entar gue tambah repot hahahaha…
Comment by dwiana — March 26, 2009 @ 8:00 pm
Eliza, I can’t remember the last time I ate rutabaga. It was that long ago lol. I must admit, I don’t think I like them either or I would have had them again lol. Your pie is simple beautiful and delicious looking.
I also wanted to say I never heard of the show “Last Restaurant Standing” Is it a USA show or a UK show? I’m going to have to check Youtube to see if I can find it. The show sounds good.
i hope you stay not liking rutabaga and parsnips and other odorous root vegetables
it’s funny though, because I like beets and that’s one earthy root.
last restaurant standing is an UK show, we have it from BBC America that airs last year’s program. it’s quite interesting watching UK reality show because the music is totally different, the narrator is talking with British accent, there’s almost none of the wild things American likes to do in cooking show
Comment by Chuck — March 27, 2009 @ 8:41 pm
Hello!
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Comment by tara — April 1, 2009 @ 7:34 pm
This sounds great…especially since it doesn’t contain any ground lamb! I swear Australia puts lamb in everything! I like your “pie” version.
ha ha…that’s so true. i actually like goat meat better than lamb because of my upbringing in Indonesia
Comment by Shari — April 2, 2009 @ 8:49 pm
Very delicious and filling pie for sure.
Cheers,
elra
indeed Elra!
Comment by elra — April 8, 2009 @ 4:47 pm