Easy Beef Pasties
User Reviews
4.9
Easy Beef Pasties
Description
The crust preparation involves chilling chunks of butter before incorporating them into a flour, sugar, and salt mixture using a food processor to achieve a crumbly texture with visible chunks. Adding buttermilk in stages binds the dough while retaining flakiness. The dough is divided into disks, wrapped, and chilled to rest and firm up.
The filling combines sautéed butter, beef chuck diced into uniform pieces, diced potatoes, and carrots. Seasonings include salt, crushed rosemary, black pepper, and oregano, providing an herbed and savory profile. The cooked filling is cooled before being portioned onto rolled-out dough disks. The dough is folded over and sealed, then brushed with an egg wash before baking to develop a glossy, golden crust.
This recipe yields savory handheld pasties with a flaky crust and a tender, seasoned filling. Adjust salt levels to taste, especially if sensitive, as the filling carries a notable salt presence. The pasties make a convenient meal or portable snack.
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch chunks, 8 oz, 2 sticks, cold
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 to 2/3 cup buttermilk
Filling
- 1 tablespoon butter unsalted
- 12 ounces beef chuck diced 1/2-inch, stew meat
- 1 1/2 cups potato 1/2-inch dice, diced
- 3/4 cup carrot 1/4-inch dice, diced
- water
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon rosemary crushed
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon oregano
Gravy
- 3 tablespoons butter unsalted
- 1/2 cup onion finely diced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
Prepare Crust
- Before you begin measuring everything out, place the cubed butter in the freezer to chill.
- Stir together flour, sugar, and salt, and pour into the food processor. Add butter and pulse until butter is cut into the flour, but still has visible chunks.
- While pulsing, slowly pour in 1/2 cup of the buttermilk and continue to pulse until the buttermilk is incorporated into the dough. At this point, your dough should look like rough crumbs and hold their shape if squeezed together. If dough does not hold its shape, drizzle in a little more buttermilk, up to 2½ additional tablespoons, until it does. The dough will look a little scary at this point, but don't worry. It's supposed to look like that!
- Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on the counter and dump half of your dough crumbs onto the sheet. Gather the edges of the plastic wrap and press tightly together to form a 1-inch thick disk. Do the same with the rest of the dough. Place in a plastic bag and refrigerate for at least an hour, up to 24.
Prepare Filling
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat (watch closely, you don't want to burn the butter) and add the meat. Cook until well browned.
- Add potatoes and carrots and cover with just enough water that the meat and vegetables are submerged. Add salt, rosemary, pepper, and oregano.
- Bring to a boil, turn down to medium and simmer for five minutes. Meat should be cooked through and potatoes should be softened, but still have a bit of a bite to them.
- Remove from heat and drain the cooking liquid into a separate container for later use. Set liquid and meat and veggies aside.
- In a medium saucepan, melt remaining 3 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add onions and cook until they begin to soften, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add flour and whisk continuously for 1 minute until a sticky paste forms and flour turns golden. Whisk in 1 cup of the reserved cooking liquid from your meat and potatoes (discard the rest). Simmer for 2 to 4 minutes, whisking continuously, until a thick gravy forms. Remove from heat and stir in the meat and vegetable mixture, making sure everything is well coated.
Assemble Pasties
- Whisk together egg and milk in a small bowl to make your egg wash.
- On a well-floured surface, divide your dough into 4 to 6 equal-size pieces and roll into balls. If you are slow at rolling out pastry dough, place all the balls, but one, back in the fridge and work with one at a time so the dough stays chilled and easy to work with.
- Re-flour your work surface and roll first ball out to 3/8 inch thick with a floured rolling pin, forming as round of a circle as you can manage (trim edges with a knife to make a perfect circle if necessary). Pick up your dough to make sure it is not stuck to your work surface. If it is, use a metal spatula to dislodge it before filling.
- Brush egg wash around the edges of your pie crust to help seal it and spoon beef mixture over slightly less than half of the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Fold dough over the filling and use a fork to crimp the edges closed. Cut 3 slashes in the top and transfer to baking pan.
- Repeat with remaining dough balls. You may have a bit of meat mixture left over, depending on how thin you rolled out your dough. You can eat it with a spoon.
- Brush pasties with egg wash and and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until they are beautiful and golden.
- Allow to cool slightly and enjoy.
Notes
- Reduce salt in the filling to 1 teaspoon if sensitive to salt, as the recipe is moderately salty.
Nutrition Information
Show DetailsNutrition Facts
Serving: 6Serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories 596 kcal
% Daily Value*
| Calories | 596kcal | 30% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.