Pasties and Pottage!

How much more British sounding can you get? (okay tea and scones might win out ... ) Well once again I was at the mercy of a large bunch of organic celery and seeing that I paid an arm and a leg for it, figured I should use it all up before it went rotten. (now why did I buy it in the first place? Oh yes to make more of my sorrel lentil soup... but there was lots left over) So after perusing the pantry and fridge, I realized we had lots of onions, carrots and potatoes from the garden and well as kidney beans. I then spent a good hour or two flipping through cookbooks looking for - the one -. Found on page 106 of Sundays at Moosewood. Red Pottage, a hearty soup with a hint of borscht going on, but full of protein from the red kidney beans - kind of like the perfect "welcome to autumn" soup paired with cheese pasties (the british empanada?)

The red pottage on its own, served with a healthy dollop or two of greek yogurt was fantastic! And the dough on the cheese pasties... melt in your mouth. The good news is, although a lot of work, you can make the red pottage in one night, prep the veggies for the pasties and then make the pasties on the following night. There is enough pottage produced for about 10-12 lunch/dinners and 6 extremely large pasties that could be split in half with a bowl of soup. So it pays off when you have 4-5 days of not having to cook lunch or dinner :)

Red Pottage
1.5 - 2 c. dried kidney beans
7 c. water
1 medium beet, peeled and cubed (or a large beet)
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1 c. chopped onion
2 Tbs canola, olive, or vegetable oil
1 c. chopped (or diced) celery
(chard stems if you have them lying around 1-2 c.)
2 1/2 c. undrained canned tomatoes (you can used chopped or diced if need be)
1-2 Tbs lemon juice
1-2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp cayenne
salt and black pepper to taste

1. Bring the water and beans to a boil (if you soak the beans overnight first, let boil for 10 minutes vigorously), and then cover/simmer for 1.5 hours. Add the beet and let simmer another 30-40 minutes until beans and beets are both tender.
2. While the soup simmers, saute the onion and celery in oil until tender.  Add the canned tomatoes, lemon juice, worcestershire sauce, cayenne, salt and pepper. Let simmer another 5-10 minutes and set aside.
3. Once the beans and beets are tender. Pour the onion/celery sauce into the pot and use an immersion blender to puree until chunky. Adjust salt and pepper, lemon, or cayenne to taste.
4. Serve with greek yogurt.

Cheese Pasties
Crust
3 c. unbleached white flour
1/2 - 3/4 tsp salt
1 c. salted butter
6 Tbs ice water (this was roughly how much I needed)

Filling
~ 1 c. diced celery stalks
~ 3/4 c. diced potato
1/2 c. chopped scallions or 2/3 c. chopped leek
1 1/3 c. diced carrots
4 c. grated cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 - 1 tsp dried thyme
1/8 tsp cayenne
4-6 dashes Worcestershire sauce 

1. Sift flour and salt together. Cut in butter (or be lazy and pulse the mixture in your food processor until coarse meal texture is obtained). Drizzle ice water into the food processor while pulsing occasionally until dough begins to clump. You should be able to press it into a ball and not have it fall apart.
2. Divide the dough into two pieces, shape into balls, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for 15-25 min.
3. Mix together all the filling ingredients and preheat oven to 375 degrees F in the meanwhile.
4. Cut each ball of dough into three equal pieces. Roll out each piece into a 9" circle about 1/8 " thick. Quite easy if you roll it out on a piece of wax paper. Place 1/6 of the filling on half of the circle, leaving 1/2" clear edge. Fold the circle in half and fold the sealed edges back towards the pastry filling. Press the edges with the tines of a fork to seal (and make pretty). Cut three to four slits in the top of the pasty. Transfer to baking sheet.
5. Repeat for all dough. Bake 15 minutes at 375 then lower heat to 350 and bake 20 minutes. Dough should have a nice golden glow to it. Let pasties rest 5-10 minute before serving.