Monday, November 10, 2008

Steak and chanterelle pasties with brown gravy and glazed carrots

I swear, I've almost worked through all of my chanterelles. I'm actually getting tired of eating them, being too much of a good thing. I've been craving pot pies and brown gravy and all that, and thought I'd give making pasties a go. It's pretty much just an empanada, so I used the dough recipe from last year's buffalo and chanterelle empanadas with mole.

I diced up some chuck steak, coated it in a little flour and browned it with some onion. This made a sticky (but savory-smelling) mess in the pan, so I removed the brown steak and added the chanterelles. Chanterelles, like all mushrooms, are almost all water and release copious liquid when cooking. This liquid deglazed the pan nicely and stirred up into thick gravy with the toasty brown fond-roux. I added some finely chopped thyme and rosemary, a squirt of Worcestershire and some salt and pepper, and stirred in one diced, boiled Yukon gold potato.

I spooned the filling into rounds of dough, sealed the edges with a little eggwash and then pinched the edges up into cute little pocket pies. I sloppily brushed the remaining eggwash on top of the pasties to brown and sent them to a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, I peeled and sliced some Sweet Nantes carrots and browned them in a little butter and sugar, then added a splash of chicken stock and simmered over a low flame until the carrots were tender and shiny. I added a pinch of kosher salt and fresh-crushed celery seed. The gravy was just beef stock (fortified with a bit of veal demi) shook up in a jar with some flour and simmered until the flour cooked and thickened.

The crust was nice and flaky, unlike the leaden pasties served up at the Horse Brass (who have the best fish and chips in Portland, but terrible pasties), and the silky gravy not at all like library paste. The filling was tender, moist umame. I'll definitely make this again.

20 comments:

glamah16 said...

Looks very succesful. Perfect lloking dough.

April was in CA now MA said...

I had a pastie in the upper peninsula of Michigan a few years ago and it was pretty tasty. This looks exactly like my kinda cold weather meal. I'm a loser though..I've never made my own dough.

On a positive note.. I just gave a pork roast the rub down with your pulled pork recipe rub. It's resting quietly before it's big debut tomorrow. I've made it once before and it's by far my favorite pulled pork recipe.

Manggy said...

Huh, I had no idea what pasties were, except for nipple-adhesive. So I was kinda snickering over what I thought was a typo until I realized it was deliberate. Oops :)
The way you described the cooking procedure is just amazing. It really does come very instinctively to you, doesn't it? Apparently I'm more of a chemist than an artist (which you are), because I can't even imagine coming up with this.

peter said...

"not at all like library paste" is such a ringing endorsement... the eggy top looks so pastielicious. I've already been beaten to the stripper boob joke, but I promise mine was much more Cornish.

Alicia Foodycat said...

I've been reading stuff about pasties recently (they are being touted as a budget packed lunch) and the one thing the cognoscenti seems to agree is that this is the one time you don't brown the meat first. Which seems absurd to me - how can you get the lovely rich umami without the maillard reaction?

Núria said...

Yes, it looks like empanada. Mmmmushrooms are great, but by the end of the season, I also get a bit tired of them. Lovely carrots!

Peter G | Souvlaki For The Soul said...

Much better than those Cornish Pasties! Love the flavours Heather! As usual your creative style makes this dish a winner! I too crave gravy!

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

Wow that looks like comfort food to the max! I would love that. All but my gravy hater in the house would love that!!! She can eat PB&J that night!

dz said...

Mmmm brown graveeeeeey. Where/how'd you learn to cook? You sound like you're schooled in all the basic/classic techniques (and then some).

This inspired me, I think I'll make chicken empanadas or some such in a few days.

Lo said...

Pasties... so good.

FYI -- If you've seriously tired of them, you could always send your bounty of chanterelles over to a poor soul in the Midwest. I'm just sayin'.

Laura Paterson said...

Shlurp! Pasties as a meal? Bring it on...

I got a spicy chicken pastie at lunch today - ok, so they are possibly as unhealthy a lunch as imaginable, but they are so tasty!

Us Scots have our own version of this too - the Forfar bridie. Those recipes don't brown the meat beforehand either - weird...

The Short (dis)Order Cook said...

Yum. I like pasties in theory, but not always in practice. It's hard to find someone who makes one wiht a good crust and filling that has a good flavor and consistency. This one looks like a cut above average!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

You must have some British roots with these "pasties". More robust than a Cornish pastie though:D

Heather said...

Courtney - I had a little leftover dough that I used with canned cherries for a quickie galette last night. :)

April - I'm so glad that recipe works for you! There's a lot going on with my rub, but I'm always happy to hear it actually does the trick for other people.

Mark - I saw a brand of nipple protectors in Japan called Nipless. They are for preventing chaffing.

Jube - Well the Horse Brass' gravy is what I was referring to. It's like Elmer's with a bouillion cube.

Alicia - I know! That's why I defied convention and browned the meat first. Also, I didn't want mushroom juices leaking out and sogging up the pastry.

Núria - I should dry some or preserve them somehow, because I'll miss them in the spring!

Petah - You're in a chipper mood! I just love savory pies, and this is what I had in my cupboard, s'all. ;)

Judy - Or you can leave the gravy off of one of them. :) Kids like these carrots, though, since they are so buttery and sweet.

smörgåsbroad - I taught myself to cook through a combination of reading cookbooks and cooking magazines and television. It's been 20 years in the making.

Lo - I should quit complaining, I know. We need to do a big foodie swap sometime, get folks from different regions to all pitch in. That'd be pretty fun.

Kittie - I was thinking about a bridie, too. I should do a savory pocket pie series, and make all of the different iterations (empanada, calzone, knish, etc.).

Rachel - It was good, thanks!

Valli - Definitiely more robust. ;)

Anonymous said...

YUM - this looks awesome. Pasties are a complete must when the weather gets cooler, and this steak/chanterelle mixture sounds like a knockout.

Mike of Mike's Table said...

That's some sexy looking comfort food--I would destroy a plate of that! Although I must admit, I came in with confused expectations when I saw "pasties"...lol, I never knew there was a food form :o

Anonymous said...

i want this for dinner every single night for the rest of my life. i'm sure i've said that about a dish before, but this time i REALLY REALLY mean it.

Maggie said...

Looks delicious...steak, chanterelles, and fresh-baked dough? hard to beat.

We, too, were feeling gravy this week.

Heather said...

Matt - Well that's such a compliment coming from an expat! Thanks. :)

Mike - Say it with me: "pah-steez". Not "pay-steez". :P

Michelle - I don't believe you.

Maggie - Gravy! It's that time of year again.

Leigh said...

ooh, meat pasties- gorgeous, and ery British, if i do say so!