I have wanted to make vegetarian pasties for a long time! They sound so delicious and any time I've seen pasties for sale they do not have vegetarian versions available, although I know lots of places do, which is great if you can find them...anyway I decided to tackle making a Cornish Pasty sans meat for My Kitchen My World - England week.
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It is generally accepted that the pasty (as we know it today), originates from Cornwall. Tradition claims that the pasty was originally made as lunch ('croust' or 'crib' in the Cornish language) for Cornish tin miners who were unable to return to the surface to eat. The story goes that, covered in dirt from head to foot (including some arsenic often found with tin), they could hold the pasty by the folded crust and eat the rest without touching it, discarding the dirty pastry. The pastry they threw away was supposed to appease the knockers, capricious spirits in the mines who might otherwise lead miners into danger. A related tradition holds that it is bad luck for fishermen to take pasties to sea. Pasties were also popular with farmers and labourers.
Thanks wikipedia, what interesting information! A fun meal in a pocket with some folklore.
I found a recipe via google on cooks.com for my pasty dough and basic filling, sadly it didn't really turn out that well :( I think it was half operator error and half not so great recipe... The dough which I've always seen as more pie crust-ish ended up being more biscuit-ish. Oh-well.
I still adore the idea of a vegetarian pasty and will try at some point to make them again, and hopefully next time I will have an awesome recipe to share and tell you that you must make your own pasties because they are 'that good.' This week My Kitchen My World is 'visiting' Indonesia and I am really excited about trying tofu satay and some Indonesian rice, posting day for My Kitchen My World is supposed to be on Saturday (sorry, I'm late with England!) -- stay tuned :)
