Junk

Lately I have been eating more junk. Veggie friendly junk, but junk nonetheless.

I think this is a trap that most, if not all, new veggies fall into. Its so much easier to grab some chips or dried fruit or lollies than have to mess things up in the kitchen if you're short of time. The other day we had a bake sale so I cooked scones, pasties and cookies for 5 hours straight. It was good because I got into the routine of preparing, baking and washing up (normally when I cook, I prepare, bake, then eat and do the washing up later... like, a day or two later!).

I made vegetarian pasties and they're delicious! So much that not all of them made it to the bake sale, some were sold even before I got to the bake sale (bless my mother in law), and then I ended up buying some at the bake sale! I've restocked my ingredients and am set to make more of these fabulous delights. Note: they're not vegan. Just vegetarian.

From taste.com.au:

Makes 12

Ingredients
1 small (about 150g) orange sweet potato (kumara), peeled, coarsely chopped
1 small carrot, peeled, finely chopped
1 desiree potato, peeled, finely chopped
1/2 cup (80g) frozen peas
125g can corn, rinsed, drained
1/2 cup (40g) coarsely grated cheddar
2 eggs, lightly whisked
3 sheets (25cm) ready-rolled frozen shortcrust pastry, just thawed
2 tsp sesame seeds

Method

Preheat oven to 240°C. Line an oven tray with baking paper. Cook sweet potato in a medium saucepan of boiling water for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain well. Transfer to a heatproof bowl. Use a fork to mash until smooth. Set aside to cool in bowl.

Cook carrot and potato in a medium saucepan of boiling water for 5 minutes or until tender. Drain well. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly.

Add carrot mixture, peas, corn, cheese and 1 egg to sweet potato and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

Use a 12cm-diameter pastry cutter to cut 12 discs from pastry sheets. Spoon vegetable mixture evenly among pastry discs. Brush edges of pastry lightly with remaining egg.

Fold pastries in half to enclose filling. Use fingertips to gently press together to seal. Place on the lined tray and lightly brush with remaining egg. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake in oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Once completely cooled, wrap in foil and place in lunch box.

Notes & tips

You can freeze these pasties at the end of step 5. Place in an airtight container in the freezer. To defrost, place individual pasties in the fridge for 4 hours. Continue from step 6 to serve.

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I kinda cheated a bit. Firstly, I only used one egg - the second egg for sticking the pastry together isn't needed - pastry sticks together fine if you squeeze it with your fingertips (or if you're having trouble, use a little water). Secondly, I don't own a pastry cutter - if you have a sheet of shortcrust pastry, just cut it into quarters. You'll end up with a blob of pastry on top, but if you curl it over, they look like cornish pasties - yum!