Victor came into the kitchen yesterday and asked what I was making for dinner.  I replied “Pasties.”   He said “Oh!  Those things that twirl…” as he started moving his index fingers in opposite directions…  Have you ever wanted to pick up a bag of flour and cover someone with it from head to toe?  And would you do it if you didn’t have to clean up the mess?!?  I said PAY-stees, not PAA-stees.  I should have just said a meat pie.

On the other hand…  have you ever seen a really talented set of pasties in action?!?  Awe-inspiring.

But I digress.

I had taken some sausage out of the freezer thinking I might just do sausage and peppers and onions.  Simple enough.  But when I got home, I decided I wanted something different.

Out came the aforementioned bag of flour.

Pie Crust

• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup pastry/cake flour
• 2 sticks butter, frozen
• pinch salt
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 cup ice water

Using a food processor, add flours, salt, and sugar. Pulse to mix.

Chop up frozen butter and add. Pulse until butter is incorporated and mixture looks grainy.

Slowly add ice water and pulse until mixed.

Turn out onto counter. Press and form mixture into two disks . Wrap in plastic and refrigerate about an hour to allow the flour to properly absorb the water and to relax the gluten.

Roll out crust and place in pie plate. Crimp edges and fill.

Pie crusts made, they went into the ‘fridge

Then I made the filling.

It was a throw-together.  I used 4 links of hot Italian sausage, casings removed,  one peeled and diced potato, about a half-cup of chopped onion, 1 clove garlic, minced, a cup of peas, 1/2 cup grated asiago cheese, 4 oz cream cheese, salt and pepper.

I crumbled and cooked the sausage and added the onions, garlic, and then potatoes.  When everything was cooked, I added the peas, heated them through, and then stirred in the cheeses and then let it cool.

I used a bowl to cut out the individual pasties.  I brushed the edges with egg, filled them, folded them over and crimped with a fork.

They were brushed with egg and then went into a 425° oven for 30 minutes.

It was fun way to use otherwise ordinary ingredients.