Pasty

What is a pasty? (for those non-Scandinavians who read this!) A Pasty, in my opinion, is a burst of excitement and flavor in the mouth. It is the pure essence of what I am. And what am I? A pure bred FINN. Straight up Finnish (though from America) girl. 

Pasties are as important to me as a sauna. And by the way, it's pronounced SOW-NA, not saw-na. Very few things rankle my gut then hearing my beloved sauna referred to as a sawna. Ask a Finn! It's SOW! Probably because you "sweat like a pig" in ir or something..who knooows! 

Anyway, back to the pasties. They are hand held meat and veggie pies. Don't THAT sound appetizing?? (not) Every person I know will claim theirs or their mother's pasty to be the best. recipe. EVER. Well, guess what. I'm going to clam that too. Mostly because I can! My mom's crust is flaky. And has just the right amount of crisp without being hard and dense. She always makes two different crusts when she makes pasties. She's crazy like that. I also know people who make theirs into actual pies. Like in a pie plate. I prefer mine portable. Also, ask anyone who's had my mom's pasties. It's alllll about the hand cubed (not shredded) veggies. 

Ok. I'm done bragging and sounding arrogant now. Please don't hate me. I just have an opinion like everyone else!! So, onto the RECIPE!!!

Pasty

(to feed a crowd or about 36 people)

10 lb bag potatoes, peeled & cubed small

3 lbs mini carrots, halved & cubed

4 rutabaga, cubed same size as potatoes (this is a MUST!!!!)

5 onions, with the daylights chopped outta them

3 lbs extra lean ground beef

1 lb sausage (Italian is good!)

1 tablespoon salt

2 tsp pepper

Mix all ingredients in the largest bowl you can find. Or make a half recipe and them I'm sure you won't have to go to a specialty kitchen store and buy a 480 gallon sized bowl like my mom had to do. Make pie crust recipe. Follow photographic instructions. 

Enlist help of younger siblings to assist in chopping ingredients. (That includes war hero style wrapped brother who had a date with the pavement earlier on..-wear helmets, dear children!-)

 

Laugh hysterically as you photograph younger sister who got roped into bawling eyesballs out while chopping onions...I eventually took over the task! You're a trooper, Tova...

Placed in bowl...we assembled the root veggies the night before...

Get a ball of dough like this size...

Roll it out about this shape and size

(Shes gonna die when she sees my inscriptions and most likely tell me to take them off but I just love her new ring!!)

Put about 1 cup of filling into dough like so and top with a pat of butter

fold top over and seal like so..

Bake on 350 for about an hour

and what you will get is...

PURE

YUM

!!!!!!!

I absolutely must have mine with ketchup and a huge glass of icy cold milk.

AMAZING!

You can use whatever pie crust you so desire...but I think my mom's are the best. Passed down a few generations, they are tried and true! Will post those recipes later!! You will need about 4 batches of a traditional 2 crust pie crust recipe.