Pork Pasties

I came across a reference to these delicious pockets of yum in a book years ago and I finally got around to attempting to make them tonight. The humble pasty (pronounced to rhyme with nasty) were originally what coal miners brought with them to lunch. They sure are delicious and they're really quite simple to make, being just pie crust and filling. They're like hot pockets, but not disgusting and full of salt and chemicals.

My whole family loved them, but they were a little on the large side. I'm thinking next time I make them I'm going to make 6 instead of 4. I'm also thinking that if I had a deep freezer I could make up a bunch of these and stash them for emergency dinners. These are pork, but they would be pretty darn tasty made with beef, chicken, turkey, or even just a bunch of veggies.

Pork Pasties
Makes 4 at 568 calories each

Crust:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 oz cold unsalted butter, diced
2 oz cold reduced fat cream cheese, diced
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon ice water

Filling:
1 lb diced pork loin
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 cup diced potato
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup shredded carrot
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon crushed rosemary
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 tablespoon whole wheat flour

1. Whisk together the flours and salt. Cut in the butter and cream cheese until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Slowly mix in the ice water until a dough forms. Knead in the last of the flour by hand. Divide the dough into 4 portions, shape into disks, wrap, and refrigerate for one hour.
2. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
3. Combine the all of the filling ingredients in a bowl.
4. Working with one disk of dough at a time, roll out on a floured cutting board until you have an 8" disk. Put about 1 cup of filling on half of the dough and fold the other side over. Crimp the edge shut and place on a greased baking sheet. Repeat until all the pasties are made.
5. Cut three slits on top of the pasty. Brush the tops of the pasties with milk and bake for 45 minutes.

Ready to bake!

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