Thursday, August 14, 2008

Preparing some Ultra Nosh

My parents make a dish they call "pastie pie" - it is basically a corned beef hash baked into a pie, and pretty damn tasty too. Tonight I made a slightly jazzed up variation of it as individual pasties. Compact, filling, yummy, portable - I will experiment snacking on them during Saturday night's 12 hour all-nighter with a view to using them at Bandera and Rocky Raccoon. Though they look similar to my wholewheat cornish pasties recipe from a few months ago, they are completely different.

Mark's Ultra Pasties (makes 12)


Crust
2.5 cups all purpose flour
3oz olive oil spread
1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
4 tbsp iced water

Filling
1 tin corned beef
2 cloves garlic
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 medium potatoes

Instructions
Peel and chop the potatoes and steam or boil for 30 minutes.
While they are cooking, make the dough for the crust. Combine the flour and mustard powder and cut in the olive oil spread until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water and mix until it all starts to come together. Make into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until ready.
Preheat the oven to 450F.
Peel and chop the onion and garlic and saute for 2-3 minutes until softened.
Chop the corned beef and add to a mixing bowl along with the potato, onion and garlic. Beat until thoroughly mixed (can also use a food processor).
Roll out the dough and cut into 6" circles (I use my pasta machine and take it all the way down to thickness level 4). Spread the filling on half the circle, moisten the edges with water, fold over and seal. These are great tools that make this part super easy. I got mine in a cookery store in Cardiff but have also seen them sold locally.
Arrange pasties on a baking tray. Before putting into the oven, brush them with milk.
Bake for 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 350F and bake for a further 20 minutes.
Leave to rest for at least 10 minutes to allow the crust to soften.
Eat immediately, or wait until cooled and wrap with clear plastic.
Guard against roving spouses and 3 year olds.

In preparation for Saturday I started carb loading tonight with some yummy spicy chinese noodles. Chinese in the sense that I made the sauce out of peanut butter, soy sauce, white vinegar, sugar, garlic and cayenne (for a nice kick). Threw in some stir fried chicken and mushrooms and the result was one yummy carbolicious pasta dish.

Pushup Challenge : week 5 day 2
Plan :
20, 20, 18, 18, 15, 15, 14, at least 40
Actual : 20, 20, 18, 18, 15, 15, 14, 40

The pushup challenge seemed a lot easier tonight. Even though it has progressed to 8 sets with only 45 seconds rest in between, there are less reps. Pushed out 160 and didn't really feel it too much. Confidence is high going into the last day of the penultimate week. Still not sure I'm up to the 100 though.

1 comment:

clea said...

Good luck this weekend. I will think of you when I am on the couch, sipping a glass of wine and watching the Olympics :)