I woke up this morning longing for cheesy, mushroomy pastries I had a million years ago at a Renaissance fair when I was a kid. For one beautiful year a stall sold homemade sodas in hefty glass bottles and an assortment of period-appropriate street food. Mushroom pasties were on the menu, along with other hand pies full of stewed meats and spices.

Everything in Medieval and Renaissance cooking has a hefty amount of clove and ginger in it, I've learned recently. Warm spices we associate with pumpkin pies and other holiday desserts were first utilized (often in extremes) during those time periods. Since sugar was at a premium, spices took over to add some flavor to otherwise bland dishes. Luckily this recipe I've whipped up today doesn't have clove or nutmeg in it, but I couldn't help but think about clove-drenched fowl dishes I read about recently while cooking.

I wish Americans liked savory pies. We lost a lot when we focused on pot pies over delicious savory hand pies. Move aside too-sweet cherry and peach pastries, all I want is a gooey meat or mushroom crescent that isn't a hot pocket. But we've turned our backs on these portable, delectable treats and it makes me want to open a little bakery.

I kind of like the half-pie half-dumpling look

Anyway, these are ridiculously simple, I didn't even make the dough I used. I used pre-cut crescent roll triangles to make little pointy pies. If you try this, puff pastry would probably work, as would standard pie dough. Baking times would change based on the dough you used. Since I'm generally bad at making my own pastry dough, I don't mind this shortcut. this recipe makes 8 little pies or 4 bigger ones if you squish the triangles together.

Quick Mini Mushroom Pasties

Ingredients

1 can of crescent rolls (I used pre-cut)
1 container of oyster mushrooms
1 container of crimini mushrooms
1 table spoon of butter
1 egg for eggwash
Half a little log of goat cheese (I used a garlic and herb variety)
1 cup of grated parmesan or any salty, drier cheese
Zest of half a lemon
Juice of half a lemon
A few pinches of thyme
2 cloves of garlic
Three green onions, whites thinly sliced and greens rough chopped

Instructions

Chop the mushrooms into small pieces. You'll want them small enough to spoon onto the dough. Chop the garlic and separate the green onion tops from the white bottoms. Thinly slice the white part of the onions and sit aside. Zest the lemon.
Heat butter in a skillet. Once melted, sautee the mushrooms. Oyster mushrooms are very wet. You'll want to let the mushroom simmer for 5 minutes or until the liquid released starts to reduce.
Add the white part of the onions and garlic now, as well as the thyme , lemon zest, and salt and pepper. Let this cook down until the mushrooms start to brown. Cook a while longer, you want the mushrooms not necessarily crispy but starting to caramelize. When they've reached your ideal mushroom texture, squeeze in the juice of half a lemon to deglaze the pan and move to a mixing bowl.
Add in cheese. I used goat and parmesan but you can use any cheese you want. The creamy cheese helps make a sauce. Also add the green onion tops at this point and taste. Feel free to add more seasoning if the mix is bland.
Put the mix in the fridge and let it cool for about an hour. If it is too warm, the crescent dough will fall apart. My mix was still a little too warm when I started assembling pies so definitely wait the full hour.
Pre-heat your oven to 350ºF or the recommended temp for the dough you're using. While you wait on the oven to warm, unroll your dough. For crescent triangles, spread them out a little bit so you have a good surface area to spoon on the mushroom mixture. Bring the edges together and make little triangle pockets. Once the edges are sealed, transfer to a baking sheet and brush with egg.
Bake for 15 - 20 minutes. Check them around the 12 minute mark and keep an eye on them. You want the pies to brown but not burn so this is up to how thick your dough is.
Let them rest for a few minutes before serving.

OMG this also looks good. I didn't even spend a lot of time setting up "ideal food photography lighting"

These are positively scrumptious. I will probably make them fairly often now since I buy oyster mushrooms in bulk from my local Asian market and never seem to go through the whole package. This is a great way to use up mushrooms and green onions you have laying around and is easily adaptable to any filling. I'd avoid soupy, saucy fillings with the crescent dough, but if you opt for pie dough, you can use wetter fillings.