Pasties Are Right On the Money (With Recipe)

The pasty recipe Hamburg Township resident Shannon Money made for the Livingston Reads pasty contest last month was, well, right on the money.

And so it should be: she and fellow Michigan Technological University graduate and close friend Gabi Palmer of Dearborn spent a lot of time perfecting it.

Shannon proved that her family, including husband Jack, who runs a home business, Elephant Motor Sports in support of BMW racing, as well as their children (Isabel, 9, Evelyn, 7, and Daniel, 6) aren’t the only ones wowed by her recipe.

When they started making pasties, Shannon and Gabi’s goal was to craft a close approximation of the pasties they used to buy at Jim’s, a local grocery store near campus in Houghton.

“Once we got out of school,” she explained, “we realized we had no way to get them.”

That fact firmed up their determination; as a result, pasties were one of the first things both women learned how to cook soon after college graduation. (At the time, both lived in Plymouth.) “Between the two of us, we’d make 20 to 30 pasties and freeze them,” Shannon said.

They started with a recipe available from the Michigan Tech alumni website, which has continuously evolved. It’s been a little more than 15 years and plenty of attempts at the recipe and their persistence has paid off. The best tip Shannon ever got was from a place in Saline that makes wonderful pasties; she learned grating the rutabaga yields the best results.

These days, Shannon’s family has annual pasty-making parties, spreading their popularity among friends.

“We have a few families over, and all the adults have jobs to do to help make the pasties,” she said. “We all enjoy the food that night, and at the end we send the extras home to fill everyone's freezers.”

Slight recipe changes usually are the name of the game. Though it calls for ground chuck, Shannon’s used diced chicken for a healthier version. Regardless of the meat you use, she said it’s important to break it up into little bits so it will cook when mixed with the rest of the ingredients inside the pasties. “It’s very forgiving,” she added.

One thing, however, remains constant: rutabaga is a must-have ingredient. Without it, a pasty is  “just a meat pie,” Shannon explained. The crust is easy to make, and there’s really no way to over-mix it. In fact, she often kneads it to make sure the ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Shannon, who’s worked as a busy axle design engineer for Ford Motor Company in Livonia since 1993, appreciates the convenience of reheating frozen pasties for a quick, hot meal.

Making the pasties is a family affair, and the March 8 Brighton District Library pasty contest that qualified Shannon for the final competition was no exception.

The Moneys worked together the night before to make a test batch, ensuring the recipe was still accurate. (As mentioned, it can change a bit depending on what they have in the house. For example, if there’s extra rutabaga, it gets thrown into the filling.)

Making the entry and getting it to the Brighton District Library was a very tight schedule. The Moneys arrived at the library just before the contest deadline.

“We did everything at home,” Shannon said. She made as much of the recipe ahead of time as possible, since she was teaching CCD that Tuesday night at their parish, in Brighton. But Shannon couldn’t prepare the potatoes ahead of time for the filling, so Jack chopped them for her. It took first place, moving her on to the final competition March 26 at the Fowlerville District Library.

Isabel helped her mom with the pasty entry for the finals, which earned Shannon first prize: a VIP tour and wine tasting at Chateau Chantal in the Upper Peninsula for six.

Here’s Shannon’s winning recipe:

The Money Family UP Pasty Recipe

Makes 6 pasties

Ingredients:

Crust

4 cups flour

1 1/3 cups Butter Flavored Crisco (do not use butter)

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup water

­Filling

1 cup chopped onion

1 ¼ cups grated rutabaga

4 cups diced potatoes (cut into about 1/2-inch cubes)

1 pound ground chuck (not lean)

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons parsley

Directions:  

1. Cut Crisco into flour and salt; add ¾ cup water. Mix and knead until blended, adding remaining water as necessary to get moist (but not wet) dough. Roll into cylinder; cut into six equal pieces.
2. Mix all filling ingredients except meat in large bowl. Break uncooked beef into small pieces, about one inch) and mix with other ingredients.
3. Roll out dough into 8-inch circles. Use plenty of flour while rolling; dough may be sticky. Brush edges with milk (whole milk works well).
4. Place 1 cup of filling on one side of crust. Put 1 teaspoon butter on top of filling (otherwise, pasty will be too dry). Fold dough over. Seal edge by pressing together and roll up edge.
5. Repeat process until all dough and filling is used.
6. Put pasties on ungreased cookie sheet; cut a 1-inch slit on top of each to let steam escape.
7. Brush top of pasties with milk.
8. Bake in a 400-degree F. oven on bottom shelf for 25 minutes.
9. Move to middle shelf for 20 minutes, and then remove from oven.
10. Let stand approximately 10 minutes before serving.
11. Top pasty with gravy or ketchup, and enjoy!

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