PEI Pasty

cheese, folded over into a side-crimped dough and eaten by hand. Even today, serving handpies on dishes and dissecting them with forks and knives is pasty blasphemy.

Pasties became a working-class staple as early as the 17th century when the coal miners of Cornwall—where it’s now the official dish—took their handheld lunch into the mines. One pie on Bennetto O’Brien’s menu, the PEI Pasty, is a nod to the Cornish Pasty. Those who pronounce “pasty” like “pastry” will be gently corrected by those who know their handpies. The “a” in pasty is short, as in the word “bad.” Perhaps those most in the know are members of the

Cornish Pasty Association (CPA) in the United Kingdom.

According to the CPA, the original Cornish pasty is made with beef skirt, the underside of the animal, because it has little fat and no gristle. This cut cooks the same time as the raw potatoes and other vegetables, and the juices create a nice gravy. The CPA recommends a waxy, firm potato so they hold their shape through the bake. The Cornish pasty is essentially a delicious beef stew in a handcrafted crust that’s somewhere between a snack and a full meal.

Contrary to popular belief, the purpose of the thick, crusty edge characteristic of a Cornish style pasty was probably not for gripping by dirty fingers in the mines. The theory goes that the bit of soiled crust could be discarded after the miner finished his pie. It turns out that Cornish miners took their pasties to work in bags and ate them end to end, holding onto the bag until the last bite. Waste not, want not.

Bennetto O’Brien takes a broader view of what qualifies as a pasty. To her, a pasty is a personal, portable snacking pie that comes in as many flavours as a cook can imagine. She recognizes the many forms handpies have taken in cultures around the world –samosas in India, empanadas in Mexico and the tourtière in Quebec.

Time travel by handpie

Bennetto O’Brien’s original inspiration back at Scapes came from fiction. She’s a big fan of the Outlander book and TV series. “It’s time travel,” she says. “So nerdy. A nurse in World War II passes into 1740s Scotland and gets into battles. She makes bridies – in Scotland, handpies are called bridies.”

She knew of a chef who created an entire cookbook based on Outlander. “I tried her recipe and thought, this is the perfect PEI comfort food. It’s a meat pie, it’s portable and it’s good throughout the year, especially in winter.”

Whether it’s back to the gritty reality of a Cornish mine or off to the battlefields of a fictional Scotland, the hearty PEI handpie is like time travel with every bite of an edible pocket.

The PEI Pasty is the company’s most traditional handpie, made in the style of the Cornish Pasty. Yield: 6–8 meal sized handpies Pastry: ½ lb frozen grated butter (or small cubes) 2 cups all purpose flour 1 cup whole wheat 1 ½ tsp salt 1 cup ice water

Filling: 1 tbsp neutral oil 1 lb stewing beef, cubed 3 cups russet potatoes peeled, cubed 1 small turnip peeled, cubed 1 medium onion, diced 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 litre low sodium beef stock 2 tsp salt 2 tsp ground black pepper 1 tsp tomato paste 2 tsp dried rosemary ¼ cup flour (as needed) To form handpies: 1 beaten egg with a little water to make egg-wash

Method PASTRY: Blend frozen grated butter with flours and salt mixture. Add ¾ cup of

ice water and mix until just starting to come together. Use additional water sparingly, as required. Squeeze dough together, wrap in parchment to rest in fridge for at least 30 minutes. FILLING: Season beef cubes with salt and pepper. Add oil to a hot Dutch oven and sear beef, then set aside. Reduce heat to medium, cook onions and garlic until softened. Sprinkle in most of the flour, the rosemary, and add tomato paste. Stir. Slowly add beef stock while stirring vigorously to avoid clumps. Bring to a simmer. Add potatoes and turnip. Add seared beef. Stir. Cover and place in preheated 350°F oven for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Add more stock if necessary. Stew should be quite thick to set up when cooled. Refrigerate.

DARCY RHYNO

ASSEMBLY: Cut pastry into 6-8 equal portions. Roll into circles. For 8, place ¾ cup of filling in the center of each pastry. Brush beaten egg on one edge, fold pastry over the filling and press to seal. Press folded handpie to secure filling and create a filling-free inch-wide rim along the edge, apply egg wash and crimped to fully seal. Crimp with fingers or fork. Place handpies on a parchment lined baking sheet. Egg wash tops of handpies. Freeze for later baking or bake immediately for 35-45 minutes until golden brown, at 425°F. Serve hot.