Jim ("Qwill") Qwilleran's Pasties

According to Jim "Qwill" Qwilleran of Lilian Jackson Braun's cat caper mystery series, "The Cat Who...", cats are a man's best friend. Especially siamese.

Qwill, a salt-and-pepper, luxuriously mustachioed crime reporter who lives in Pickax, Moose County ("400 miles north of nowhere") happens to have two high-maintenance siamese, Kao K'o-Kung (named after a 13th century Chinese artist), most commonly known as Koko (a male) and Yum-Yum (a female) who not only help him solve crimes, but are also gastronomes that have a special taste for all foods not cat food. Qwill's taste for food generally starts with someone else cooking for him and he has many female characters ready and willing to cook for him at the drop of a hat.

But Qwill also enjoys regularly going to restaurants for his meals. The restaurants in Moose County have some unusual names...the one featured today being The Dimsdale Diner (doesn't that sound sunny!), which makes pasties as its specialty. Moose County used to be a successful mining town and the miners (just like Cornish miners throughout history) took meat and potato pasties to work with them. Qwill tried one for the first time at the Dimsdale and didn't particularly like it, but he kept coming back for more and his taste for them improved. Pasties are mentioned in so many of The Cat Who books that I thought I must try one (I haven't ever had one before).

For those of you who don't know, pasties are half-moon baked pastries with crimped or forked edges which are filled with meat, potatoes and veggies. They can go by the name Cornish pasty in Europe or British pasty or just pasty in the U.S. The Cornish pasty is Cornwall's national dish and has Protected Geographical Indication (a fancy way for saying you can't call it a "Cornish" pasty unless it is genuinely originating in that region).  Cornish pasties will always have swede, which is turnip, and the American pasties (the ones out of Michigan anyway) will have carrots and often be served with ketchup. The pasty's origin is unclear although they have been mentioned in fiction and cookbooks throughout the ages.

Although these originated in Cornwall, they became very popular with miners in Michigan. They are so popular there, in fact, that there is a pasty festival each year in mid June. This year PastyFest 2013 is being held in Calumet, Michigan on June 29th. Maybe I will have to make the drive south of the border to check it out! But don't worry, in Redruth, Cornwall there is a Mining and Pasty Festival too! This year it is being held on September 6-8. I wish I could make it to that one!!!!

I know, I know....I can envision your eyes glazing over. Get to the recipe already Miss Foodie!!!! Sorry about all that information but I find it interesting that something so seemingly simple has so much to tell.

Finding a proper Cornish pasty recipe was not without difficulty. Although The Cat Who series takes place in the United States, I wanted to go back to pasty roots and find a Cornish pasty recipe, as opposed to a Michigan based recipe. Below is the best recipe I found and liked. Hope you like it too!!

Ingredients:

• 2 1/8 Cups all - purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 Cup butter, diced
• 1/2 Cup water
• 1 1/4 lb rump roast, cubed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 Small turnip, diced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 Tbsp milk

1. Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl. Add butter, and rub to the consistency of coarse crumbs. Mix in water. If dough is sticky, add more flour.
2. Roll dough out until about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out six circles, each about 5 inches round. Do not stretch the dough.
3. Mix meat and vegetables together, and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Cover half of each pasty base with the filling. Moisten pastry edges, fold pastry over the filling. Press edges together with a fork. Transfer raw pasties to a baking sheet, brush tops with milk, and make a small slit in each top to allow steam out.
5. Bake at 450 degrees F ( 230 degrees C) for 10 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and bake for 35 minutes.

I certainly enjoyed these simple half-moon pastries, although one person that tried them said that they needed more "gravy" inside. I guess you will be the judge on that.

Enjoy your meal!!