Comfort Food from Home

RHYS BOWEN:  I've lived in California for a large part of my life but I suppose part of me still looks upon Britain as home. So it's not surprising that when I go back to the old country one of the things I look forward to is the comfort food of my childhood, those quintessentially British dishes that meant home for me.

During my stay in England this summer I certainly indulged in cream teas (made with real Cornish clotted cream), fish and chips (made with fish that didn't taste like cardboard),  full English breakfast (so sinful but sooooo good) and the other English breakfasts that I like: poached haddock with a poached egg on top or kippers. But I think my absolute favorite is Cornish pasties.

These are half-moon shaped pastries with meat and vegetables inside a short crust dough. They have a thick edging of rolled dough around the outside and the origin of this was that they were the meal that Cornish housewives made for their miner husbands when they were down the tin mines. These men had no chance to come to the surface or wash their hands so they would hold the pasty by its rim and then discard that part when they had finished the good stuff.  Today you can find pasties with curried chicken, cheese and onion and all kinds of fancy fillings but I still like the traditional steak ones best.

Here is the recipe I was given that works really well:

Cornish Pasties Recipe

 Half a pound of good quality steak, sliced wafer thin
Carrots, turnip, potatoes all sliced very thinly
1 big onion chopped finely
small amount of beef bouillon

short crust pastry.
Pre-heat oven to 425
roll out pastry dough into circles about 8 inches diameter.
 on one half place thin layer of potato, carrot, turnip, onion and then top with thin slices of meat. Sprinkle some bouillon over it. Fold dough in half to make a pasty shape.  Crimp and seal the edges.
Bake  on baking sheet at 425 about 40 minutes or until it turns golden.
(The steam of cooking vegetables keeps the meat moist)

So what is your favorite comfort food when you go home?