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Anything from the trolley dears? Pumpkin Pastie? Chocolate Frog? Cauldron Cakes? – Trolley Witch, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
You can’t have a Harry Potter party without the favourite snack of the wizarding world – Pumpkin Pasties! Sold on the Hogwarts Express food trolley by the very sassy ‘trolley witch’ (you’ll know what I’m talking about if you’ve read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), these pasties are one of the first ‘wizard foods’ Harry tries, along with those pesky leaping chocolate frogs.
The books don’t describe whether the pasties are sweet or savoury, but since pasties are generally savoury, I imagined that these pumpkin pasties would be too. There are plenty of sweet pumpkin pastie recipes out there, but I’ve made up my own savoury version that is absolutely delicious (if I do say so myself).
I’ve added some mixed spice (with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger and coriander), because it gives the pumpkin a nice kick, but you could use a curry spice blend, pumpkin spice mix or even Chinese 5 spice mix to vary the flavour.
Because most of the party food was quite sweet, it was nice to have a savoury food option to offer the party guests. I’m pretty pleased to say that the pumpkin pasties were a hit, and Emma’s friends had several each.
Presented on a big silver platter covered with a big glass cloche, they looked very appetizing! You can see the Treacle Tart I made in the background.
I made a big batch of pumpkin pasties and we enjoyed the leftovers for a couple of days. These little hand sized savoury pastries make the perfect snack to grab-and-go, and are an ideal lunch box food. I popped a couple in Emma’s lunch box the day after the party and she gobbled them up.
Rather than make the pastry from scratch, I used pre-made frozen shortcrust pastry sheets. Each sheet was large enough to cut 4 pastry circles, so one pack of 5 sheets made 20 pasties. You could also use puff pastry, but I find that a little too oily, and the crisp and crumbly shortcrust is a nice contrast to the soft filling.
The filling was a bit improvised so I don’t remember exactly how much pumpkin I used. I just chopped up a bit of Jap pumpkin that I had in the fridge, and roasted it till it was super soft and had yummy caramelised bits around the edges. I cooked the onion separately so it wouldn’t burn.
There was some filling left over which kept well in the fridge for a couple of days and then I stirred through some pasta to make an easy meal.
As soon as Emma saw them she said “they look like empanadas”, which is true. Whether you call them Pumpkin Pasties or Empanadas de Zapallo (that’s Pumpkin pasties in Spanish), you’ll find these delicious! I think I’ll be making these quite regularly because they are so yummy!
Don’t wait till a Harry Potter themed event to make these pumpkin pasties. Your family will love them as an everyday vegetarian snack, and it’s a great way to get extra veggies into the kids.
Savoury Pumpkin Pasties – A Harry Potter Inspired Recipe
A delicious and tasty snack inspired by the Pumpkin pasties available on the Hogwarts Express food trolley in Harry Potter. Make a great lunch with a side salad or pop one into the kid's lunchbox.
Ingredients
- 1 pkt Frozen shortcrust pastry sheets (5 sheets)
- 1/2 a medium pumpkin (about 2kg)
- 1 large (or 2 med) onion diced
- 1 tsp mixed spice or your favourite spice blend
- Vegetable oil for sauteing and coating
- Salt and pepper
- 1 egg beaten for egg wash
Instructions
- Defrost shortcrust pastry at room temperature or in fridge as per packet recommendations.
- Preheat oven to 180C
TO MAKE FILLING
- Peel and cut pumpkin into 1-2 cm cubes, coat with oil and spice mix
- Bake at 180C for about 30min or until tender and caramelised.
- While pumpkin is baking, saute onion until soft.
- Add baked pumpkin to cooked onion and combine.
- Season to taste.
- Set aside to cool.
TO ASSEMBLE PASTIES
- From each pastry sheet cut 4 circles (use a pastry cutter or small bowl as a guide)
- Fill each pastry circle with 1 heaped tablespoon of filling. Do not overfill or your pastie will leak when baking.
- Brush a small amount of egg wash around the edge of half the pastry circle.
- Fold over to seal and crimp in a decorative pattern with a fork.
- Brush with egg wash to glaze top.
- Bake pasties on a non stick pastry sheet for 15-20min until golden.
- Enjoy warm or cold.
Notes
Filling mixture quantities are approximate and you may have some left over depending on how much your pumpkin cooks down. Stir leftover filling through some pasta for a quick and tasty dinner.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 20 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 29Total Fat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 21mgSodium: 36mgCarbohydrates: 2gFiber: 0gSugar: 1gProtein: 1g
Nutritional information is an estimate only and may vary depending on ingredients used.
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