Beef Pasty

With a number of leftovers in my fridge this weekend, it was the perfect time to make pasties.  You can't find them on restaurant menus here in Central Illinois, but they're a regional favorite in Upper Peninsula of Michigan where they take great pride in their pasties. 

The pasty (rhymes with nasty) is best described as a pot pie without the pot.   Traditional ones consist of pastry dough with a meat and potato filling, but any leftovers can be turned into pasties.  Pasties originated with miners in England who carried these portable lunches in pails down in the mines.  They could be reheated in their pails with a burning candle underneath or on the ends of shovels.  Those miners who immigrated to the copper mines of the Upper Peninsula brought the pasty tradition with them. 

My pasties were filled with leftover roast beef, carrots and peas.  I used pie dough as the pastry and used my Pampered Chef pastry tool to cut them out and seal the top.  Baking for just 30 minutes in a hot oven they turned out nicely browned and yummy.