Kathleen Rear

A pasty (pass-tee) is like a pizza pocket but without the Italian ingredients. I really didn’t want to go to the store yesterday so I started hunting around for leftovers that I could throw together. Then, I remembered Alton Brown’s “A Pie In Every Pocket” episode.

Sausage and Veggie Pasty
(Your ingredients could vary)
1 small yellow onion
1 package Aidells chicken and apple sausage
2 small carrots
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt & pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
egg wash
1 batch pizza dough (or 2 tubes prepared pizza crust)
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley

Prep:
Preheat oven to 475 degrees
Prepare pizza dough (recipe to follow)
Peel and dice (very small) the carrot and onion.
Dice the sausage (try to get everything about the same size)
Measure out the rest of the ingredients and set aside.

In a large saute pan heat the oil and cook the onion over medium until soft. Add the carrots and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and herbs.
Add the sausage and cook just until warmed, then throw in the peas and cook only until they are defrosted.
(Remember we’re putting this in the oven too and we don’t want mushy veggies!)
Set filling aside to cool some.

Cut the pizza dough into 4 equal portions (or more if you want smaller pastys)
Roll each portion of dough into roughly 9×9 square
Place the dough onto your parchment lined baking sheet and fill with about 1/4 cup of the filling and 2 tablespoons of the cheddar cheese.
Paint the inside border of the dough with egg wash and close the dough, folding it across the filling.
Pat the dough and filling and try to squeeze out all the air in the pocket. Seal the pocket by pinching or crimping it with a fork.
Paint the outside of the pasty with egg wash and sprinkle with the leftover cheese

Place on middle rack of oven and bake for 12 minutes.
I made up a Mayo, lemon and tarragon mustard sauce to go with it.
Everyone ate this all up! The 12 year old of the house even ate his crust!

Basic Pizza Dough

2 packages dry yeast
1 ¼ cups very warm water
2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
Add the yeast, water, honey and olive oil to the bowl of a stand mixer. Let the yeast sit for 7-10 minutes.

Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer, and add the flour a cup at a time until combined. Turn mixer on medium-high speed and mix with dough hook for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

Form dough into a ball and set in a warm spot to rise covered with a moist towel for 30 minutes.