Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone + Savory Pumpkin Pasties

As much as I tried to read slowly, I flew right through Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. It was just so light and so good that I couldn’t stop. It also helped that I was basically stuck in bed all day thanks to a Halloween foot injury, so what better to do than read, snuggle with Thomas O’Malley, and eat frozen Reese’s PB cups from my son’s Halloween candy.

Sorcerer’s Stone was a quick read. I loved getting to really meet the characters at the beginning of it all. I had no clue just how, well, whiny (for lack of a better word) Neville comes across as he doesn’t as much in the movies. Getting more depth to the beginning of the friendship between Harry, Ron, and Hermione was nice as well. I often found myself picturing the trio as their older versions, and had to keep reminding myself that they are only 11 in this book. They’re just so young and naive, yet still so full of courage. They make excellent role models and I wish I had them to emulate when I was a tween – as I often was more of a follower than a leader and could’ve used a bit of my own internal bravery. I can’t say I loved the Dursleys – not that I ever did, but even less so now. The Dursleys are, in fact, the worst. What horribly wretched people to behave that way towards a child. I realize it’s only a story, but gah, poor Harry!

I also really enjoyed getting to experience the deepness of the bond between Hagrid and Harry. I could tell in the movies they were close, and I knew Hagrid always felt fondly for him, but in the book you really get more of a feel for their relationship and how it began which I found to be touching and sweet.

The imagery throughout the book was lovely. Granted, I already had images of Hogwarts in my head thanks to the movies, but I loved the intricacy of the details. From the food to how it felt when one of the ghosts touched you, everything felt vivid and like I was really there.

Overall, I loved the book. It was a quick, enjoyable read and gave me insight into the beginning of it all. One thing I’d like to do as I read through the series is create a recipe from each of the books. While reading about Harry’s first time on the Hogwarts Express, I enjoyed all of the delicious treats – chocolate frogs, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Jelly Beans, and pumpkin pasties.

While I realize pumpkin pasties are probably sweet in this context, I’m used to savory pasties. We eat pasties with some frequency as it’s something my husbands great grandmother used to make for her husband and has been passed down the line to us. Normally our pasties consist of meat, potatoes, carrots, and onions, but I wanted to go the pumpkin route and was pleasantly surprised with how delicious it turned out.

Harry Potter Inspired Savory Pumpkin Pasties

Ingredients:

• Pie crust (I went with store bought, but you can make your own)
• Beef for stew (it’s already pre-cut into small pieces)
• Small sugar pumpkin
• Onions and/or carrots

Preheat the oven to 350F. Next, cube your pumpkin. Just peel off the skin, cut in in half, scoop out the goop, and just cut into cubes.  I did microwave it first (poke holes in it) for about 2 minutes to make it easier to cut and get the skin off.

Unroll your pie crust dough and, if you want a normal sized pastie, cut it into 2 semicircles.  If you want a massive one (like my hubby) don’t cut and just use the whole circle.

Start adding your ingredients – make sure to only put them on one half of the dough. My son and husband wanted potato instead of pumpkin in their’s so I made it the usual way for them. Little did they know how much better mine would be.

Fold the dough with no meat/veggies on it over the meat/veggie portion and press along the seams with your fingers to close it. Use a fork to poke some holes in the top (or really get into the pumpkin spirit by lightly indenting the dough with a pumpkin cookie cutter).

Bake for 45 minutes at 350F, allow to stand and cool for about 5 minutes, and enjoy!

I absolutely loved this with the pumpkin. I actually like it much better with the pumpkin than the potato, as it adds a bit more flavor, and I hope to make it this way from now on. We like to dip these in ketchup (I found it odd the first time, but Mike’s grandmother insisted that was the way it’s done). There’s really nothing tastier than dinner shoved into a pie crust and this makes for a perfect comfort-food Fall meal.

Stay tuned for my review of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (with *hopefully* another new recipe to share).