I’m currently in the midst of a rather serious Harry Potter addiction and today I chose to feed my demon by making Pumpkin Pasties with the Monsters.
Now in fairness I was inspired to this by seeing an episode of Botched with Babish where he cooked some Savoury Pumpkin Pasties. But as is my nature I ony drew inspiration from the cook and improvised my own recipe.
Savoury Pumpkin Pasties: Getting Started
We decided to make 2 different types. The first was a savoury pumpkin pasty not in keeping with the books which I’m sure suggested a sweet dessert.
I cut a small pumpkin in half, approx 200g and removed the seeds and skin then diced to approxiamtely 1cm cubes. These I placed on a baking sheet and cooked at 120C for about 30-40 minutes. Largely to soften and dehydrate. Meanwhile I finely diced half a large carrot, a stick of celery and 2 spring onions. These I fried gently in a little butter to part soften. I seasoned with a little salt and pepper and allowed to cool.
Once my pumpkin had softened and shrivelled a little I removed this from the oven and allowed it to cool. I mixed the partially cooked ingredients in a bowl I added about 50g of diced Gouda and a similar amount of grated Red Leciester. My rationale here was to add a bit of juiciness to the pasty and bring the ingredients together. I can remember eating a very fine vegetarian Oggie at Glastonbury in 2007 and the goats cheese was the star that made the vegetables work.
Assembly
I used pre-rolled puff pastry for my savoury pumpkin pasties, that was largely expediency because it was late in the day after a busy afternoon. Then I split of pastry sheet into approximately 4 equal rectangles. Next I filled each sheet with approximately 2 table sppons of filling and then folded the pastry across to make our pasty. Now I’m sure Sons of Kernow will froth at the thought of puff pastry and rectangular folded pockets. In my defence I was tired and wanted to eat them rather than fufill the cultural expectations of the Cornish.
They turned out pretty well and I was fairly pleased with myself. If I’m being especially critical I’d say the filling was a bit drier than I wanted. I think maybe more cheese and and effort to create more cooking liquor. I would also use a homemade rough puff or shortcrust pastry the air layers in the puff detracted from the overall eating experience.
If you’re interested in Sweet Pumpkin Pasties look here.