I've read that these pasties originated in Ireland where it is said Catholic Priests invented them to be able to carry food around as they went preaching in the Irish countryside. But(te), they became well known in Montana during the gold rush days when an influx of Cornish miners came to mine gold, tin and copper. The miner's wives would pack the butte pasty for their husbands lunch. From what I've read, the meat must be chopped, not minced, the potatoes and onions sliced and the ingredients should go into the pastry raw.
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup lard
1/4 cup very cold water
Filling:
2 potatoes
1 onion
1 medium beef steak
parsley
salt & pepper
Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the lard.
Rub in the lard until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the cold water and stir with a metal spoon until a dough is formed. Split the dough into two pieces.
Roll out each piece into a large rectangle and place on an oven tray.
Peel and slice the potatoes, adding them to the centre of each pastry rectangle.
Peel and slice the onion and add it on top of the potato. Chop the beef into small pieces and add that on top of the onion. Sprinkle dried parsley, salt and pepper on top to season.
Fold the top and bottom of the pastry towards each other and seal with a crimp on the top of each pasty. Some people seal the pasties on the side instead but you can do whichever you like. Tuck in each side as you seal and then brush with milk all over.
Bake at 190 C for an hour.
We had them for lunch today and they were very nice! Everything was cooked well inside the pastry and the pastry hadn't over-cooked. I had been a bit fearful of the recipe but it turned out great. The pastry was very crumbly but you could hold the pasty to eat it with your hands. I like that you can use quite cheap beef for this recipe, I just used some cheap frying steak and it worked well. An easy lunch to prepare although it does take an hour to cook, you could prepare them in advance for a picnic easily. Yum!
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