Paddington Pies





This post is for, and about my Long Suffering One, my husband my best friend and my leader into evil....... Well not so  much really evil just food! LSO loves pies!!! No! Wait he does not love pies he LOOOVVEESS PIES! Cornish Pasties, to be absolutely precise! Big fat oozing with filling, golden brown pastry that is as light as clouds melt in your mouth pies, that according to him you can only get from Paddington Station in London! He also maintains that said pie has to be eaten there and then while having a very long and intense conversation with a club footed pigeon, these pigeons are really fat and happy,   personally, I think they all feast on pies all the time! So,  every time we go to London, we detour through Paddington and he buys Cornish Pasties from a little pie shop! And yes you read it right not 'A'-as in one pie BUT 'Pies' plural-as in lots of...... Apparently one is for applying to mouth there and then and the others are for later eating. I swear if he could bring them home in a crate he would..... he has even forgone the airline meal in favour of a Paddington Pie.( Well actually  this may be a really good idea!)

 

So A few weeks ago as he was sitting staring into space, I made the fatal mistake of asking what he was thinking about..... Oh yes you guessed it ..... PIES! Why oh why did I ask? So I thought I should do my wifely duties and try and make him some pies!  I turned to my girl, Nigella, but her recipe seemed really complicated, next I tried my man, Jamie - Yikes even worse! Google was next - there are hundreds of recipes all claiming to be the "best" and "original" I was at a loss.......

 

 

I read over a few and then reverted to my original plan, my peeps, Nigella and Jamie, I simply combined the two recipes..... and added a few bits and pieces along the way.

 

  

 

 

The meaty filling was relatively simple! It would seem that Cornish pasties rely heavily on carbs.... lots and lots of carbs - potato's and swedes.... what ? (HELP = Google) turns out it is a sort of turnip, well honestly, who has swedes hanging about in their kitchen..... Left them out and  added pea's for a little colour and well.... because I like pea's!

 

Now I must tell you all that I normal cheat with pastry,(there is always store bought puff pasty in my freezer!) but all these recipes called for short crust pasty, and it is a long process lots of ice cold this and icier cold that.... then putting in the fridge to get colder still... not to mention the don't handle too much warning! I was nervous..... I had never made short crust pasty before.....

 

Short crust pasty is a lot of work and these pie's were truly becoming a Labour of LOVE! but with that said the pasty was in the fridge and resting and I was feeling right clever! It was all looking quiet good!  

 

 

Next came the rolling and cutting out of circles, filling and curling the edges over and painting with an egg wash - WHEW! It would seem that I had finally made it to the easy part of the pie process!

Into the oven they went and about 20 minutes later, little Madame came trotting in from the garden asking " Mama What smells so totally yummy!" and groans of "Mmmmmmmm that smells so good" were heard from LSO 's study! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!! 

They looked Fabooooolooouuss! There were large pies for Papa Bear, Medium pies for Mama Bear and of course teeny tiny pies for Little Madame Bear!!

Add to that a few veggies - yes that is broccoli you see on the plate,  I might also add, home grown by yours truely! And we were good to ........Apply to Mouth!

So were they up to Paddington Pie Standard? Well after dinner, all sitting there with tummy's bursting and feeling sleepy(like you should after all good comfort food!) They were declared to be yummy in her tummy by Little Madame  and LSO said that any self respecting club footed pigeon from Paddington Station would give a coo of approval! Paddington Pies were a Hit! And apparently I was very welcome to make them again......

Well now gorgeous peeps, I hear you ask - 'were they worth the time and effort'...... OH YES! And now for the burning question, would I make them again, considering that they took the better part of a day to make? Let me answer you like this ...(LSO - Take note....) If pretty sparkly things were on offer in exchange - then yes I just might ..... xxx

 

PS:: I really cannot bring myself to type up the recipe..... it is long and well, a coffee, home made biscuits are waiting for me, with my latest  little hooky project......