Porky Pies and The Cornish Pasty

I know this is my second gratuitous 'Pie Post' this week but it is important 'National News' that is worthy of 'Lucy In The Sky' Blogging Attention.  Here is our Prime Minister posing as a hard up Pasty Eater!

With all the Porky Pies he tells he better be careful his pasty doesn't choke him!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/david-camerons-attempts-to-pose-as-a-pasty-eating-775431

It takes a good old 'Pasty Row' to bring the Parliamentary dignitaries to my home town, I don't think they would have been brave enough to go to Cornwall, where Pasties and tourists are the mainstay of the County.  Cornish Pasties have European Union 'Protected Geographical Status'.  They have crucial place in History and Culture.

The Cornish Pasty Association Website  has a great video explaining the Cultural Heritage of this humble 'meal'.

Here is Ed Milliband the Labour Party Leader and Ed Balls (The Shadow Chancellor) Posing outside Greggs the Bakers in my home town this week.

Sometimes I sneak in here for a 'hot' Sausage Roll (but don't tell anyone).  I would have been mortified to be caught on national news, sneaking my unhealthy snack.

This shot is just to prove to my 'Local' Blog Audience  that this was in fact 'our' Greggs '.

I did witness all this kerfuffle as I drove past but I was unaware as to who and what it was, as I was on my way to err. . . . ummm. . . do my bit for the 'Panic Buying Petrol Crisis'.

Strange times we are in indeed.  I am sure at some point today I will be making Pasties and I won't be driving far!  

The Humble Pasty Hits the Headlines - Pie Day Friday

The good old Pasty has hit the headlines this week in the UK.  We have endured our Government budget and one of the changes is from the first of April if you go to a bakery and buy a 'Hot' Pasty it will have a 20% tax increase on its cost.  Fancy that?  The Chancellor defended the decision for shops selling hot food,to be inline with the Tax that 'Take Aways' have to charge the customer.  The suggestion the Chancellor has made for increasingly impoverished Brits is If you can't afford a Hot Pasty buy it Cold for 20% less cost.  Blimey only posh folks can now buy a hot pasty, the rest of us who count the pennies are resigned to the fact our pasties will be cold!  It would be enough to have an old Cornish Tin Miner turn in his grave!  I would not usually comment on religion or politics, I don't vote because the Politicians always get in!  I think this government is stooping very very low indeed though, with speculation and resulting panic about fuel shortages, the 'Royal' Mail making considerable increases to postal costs and now hitting us where it hurts with the 'Humble Pasty'.

Fraser Mcnish sums it up

I would suggest making your own pasties, this is my recipe Here for the Cornish 'Style' Pasty, You can eat them piping hot to your hearts content, Tax Free!

I also make a mean Vegetable Pasty (Tax Free of course).  Vegetarian Pasty.

I am not afraid to stand up and be counted!

The Chancellor can stick his rotten, stinking, low down 'Pasty Tax' where the sun don't shine.  I will continue to bake my Pasties at home and I won't even complain if they are so hot I burn my tongue in my cheek.  The peasants should be revolting.   Bake Your Pasties at home!  Communities Unite for Pie Day Friday!

What a lovely pair!

A lovely pair of turnips, the first two of the year!  Turnips are my accidental speciality.  With my abundance of Blackcurrants and this pair of beauties I am really 'living off the fat of the land'.

They were washed, peeled and chopped within minutes along with swede, carrots and onion.

It was all mixed thoroughly together with some minced steak and seasoned with lots of salt and black pepper.

Wrapped up in a circle of Shortcrust  Pastry and Baked until Golden Brown.

A Cornish Pasty to my mind has to contain a bit of turnip for it to be 'Proper' 

I have shown you 'Cornish Pasties with the recipe in this previous post' I just wanted to show off my turnips!  I am off to Google 'Vegetable shows', I think mine are winners!

Cornish Pasties

These may not look to pretty but they make a hearty meal.   The Cornish Pasty now has Europian Union Protected Status.  It can only be called a Cornish pasty if it is made in Cornwall.  Pasties have caused much controversy in the South West of England, particularly Devon and Cornwall, as to what makes an authentic pasty.  I will just call mine Meat and vegetable pasties to avoid trouble with the EU and avoid offending Devonians or the Cornish.  I cheated anyway and used a packet of Shortcrust Pastry mix, I just had to add water and mix it.

Ingredients for the filling:
500g Minced Beef
2 potatoes, peeled and finely diced
1/3 of a large swede, peeled and finely diced
2 onions peeled and finely chopped
2 carrots peeled and finely chopped
Salt and Black pepper to season

I mixed all of the filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  I divided 1kg of Shortcrust pastry into 8.  This mix made seven large pasties.  The left over pastry made 'Cheesestraws'.   I rolled the pastry into a circle.  Squished two large tablespoons of mixture into the centre of the circle and sealed it with beated egg.  Traditional pasty makers are extremely skilled at sealing and crimping a pasty neatly, I need more practice.  I brushed the pasties with egg and baked them in a medium oven for between 45 minutes to 1 hour. 
These were the traditonal packed lunch of the Cornish Tin miners, half of the pasty would have contained meat and vegetables and the other half fruit, the thick crust was to hold the pie and prevent it getting dirty, then the crust would not have been eaten.  I think with the size of my pasties a couple of miners could share one.  Maybe I shouldn't have eaten all of the crust either!