RECIPE: Celebration Roast En Croute Pastie

Here is a delcious new recipe for our Cele Roast.

There is a tradition in the world of meat to surround a piece (of it) with a flaky crust (puff pastry). In England, were my mother (mum) lives they call them Pasties or Cornish Pasties. They are the original fast food; self contained, wrapped in a flaky outer crust, take them where you go.....these foods are often served in pubs, on trains, etc.

Earlier this year, when I was in England visiting my parents, I spied a vegetarian version of this traditional food at my local Sainsburys made from Quorn. If you don't already know, Quorn is the leading veggie meat in England. It's made from mushrooms (go figure that?) and its quite delicious.....it's not vegan, though....they use egg whites for a binder. Anyway, their pastie was quite delicous - they call it En Croute....and I've often thought of doing something like this with Field Roast (yes...BEFORE I had the Quorn version).

I began by julienning some carrots, celery and red bell peppers (I wanted to use onions but didn't have any in my fridge). I lightly sauteed them, hit them with a pint of salt to bring out the moisture and slowly finished them in a mild braise....for accent I added a tinge of curry, cooked them a little longer, then took it off the heat. I seasoned up the vegetable mixture with a little bit of whole cranberry sauce and chutney (Cross and Blackwells Pear Cardamom version). yum....sweet, whole cranberries, a touch of curry, the spicyness of the chutney...)

I placed a dollop of the veggie mix on top of a 7" by 6" piece of puff pastry (bought frozen from Pepperidge Farms....crucify me! - i think it's vegan...go check)...then on top of the mound of veggie mix I placed an 1/2" slab of our Celebration Roast, then folded the pastry up, pinched to seal, flipped it upside down on a baking sheet so the meat and the folds are on the bottom...and baked it all at 350 degrees til brown....about 30 minutes.

Serve with a green salad....or some mashed potatoes and candied yams.....have some fun...it's so good!

For the proper recipe....click here.