The Pasty Of Love

When you are cooking for a special occasion it's tempting to go all out. I love to cook so I want to prepare meals with lots of bells and whistles. Starting from the home made stock and finishing with the home made condiments. Ingredients that I need to get on a train to find? Brand new cooking techniques? Bring it on. But meals are more than just what you eat, they are who you eat them with. If you're in love with a lover of simple food you make the best damn simple food you can. 

Two-Cheese and Onion Pasty

So I pick the dish. There was a recipe for Two-Cheese and Onion Pasty in Vegetarian Living. It's "adapted" from the Jus-Rol website and can be found here. Stephen is a cheese maniac so I know it will help me sell the dish but I have to compromise on the onions. They have to be cooked until all texture is gone for him to even consider it. Fair enough. I actually choose to go with shallots and cook them until they are soft and sweet.

We go to Waitrose together to do our weekly shop and I encounter my first bump in the road. Clearly this is part of some Southerners conspiracy. I could find the Emmental (President is vegetarian) but no Lancashire. I asked if they had any at the cheese counter and was asked 'what like cheddar?' No, like Lancashire. I did end up using cheddar though mainly because that is what we had around.

My last and probably most most radical departure from the recipe was to use home made shortcrust. I do love Jus-Rol and I'm particularly dedicated to their ready rolled puff pastry (the cheap one, not the all butter) but I like making my own shortcrust. Even my Mum makes her own shortcrust. It's totally fun.

For valentines day we had a simple, but very good supper of pasty and potato wedges. And we cuddled and stuff.