1 pound package lard, at room temperature and cut into small chunks (or 1 pound Solid Crisco)*
1 egg
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar or white vinegar
Ice water, as needed
*Note: Lard makes a wonderful flaky and delicious crust, but Solid Crisco can be used instead.
For Meat Filling:
3-4 medium potatoes, peeled
2-3 medium carrots
Ice water, as needed
1 medium onion, peeled, halved, and sliced very thin
1-1/2 pounds ground beef
Table salt and ground black pepper, to taste
3 Tablespoons butter, divided and cut into bits
Instructions
For Crust: Mix flour and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Scatter small pieces of lard into the bowl. Using a pastry blender, blend lard into flour until coarse crumbs form. Break the egg into a 1 cup liquid measuring cup. Add the vinegar to the cup and stir to combine with the egg. Add enough ice water to make 1 cup of liquid. Drizzle over crumb mixture in bowl and mix with a fork until blended. Using floured hands, form into a ball, then divide into 4 equal size pieces. (it's best to weigh them so they are exactly equal). Form each piece into a ball, flatten slightly, and wrap each in wax paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate while preparing the filling. This is enough dough to make two double-crust pasty pies, so two of the dough discs can be frozen for later use.
For Filling: Place peeled potatoes and whole carrots in a bowl of ice water to cover. Let soak for an hour, then drain and pat dry. Slice the potatoes in half lengthwise, then crosswise into thin slices. Coarsely grate or chop carrots. Slice the onion into thin slices; set all these aside.
Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Remove one of the dough discs from the refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 12-inch circle and ease into a 10-inch pie pan.
Now you are going to layer the ingredients. Layer ⅓ of the potatoes onto bottom of crust, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place ⅓ of the carrots, ⅓ of the onions, then salt and pepper. Using ⅓ of the raw ground meat, pick off small pieces of the meat and scatter over the onions. Dot with ⅓ (1 Tablespoon) of the butter pieces. Repeat layers 2 more times. Press filling down with your hands lightly but firmly.
Roll out the second dough disc to a 12-inch circle and ease on top of pie. Fold under edges and crimp all the way around. Cut one slit on top of pie to allow steam to escape. Bake for 1 hour, 5 minutes or until pie is a deep golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack for 5 to 10 minutes before cutting. Serve warm cut into wedges.
Recipe by The Culinary Cellar at https://theculinarycellar.com/esthers-pasty-pie/