Cornish Pasty
Feeds 4
300 g rump steak
250 g potatoes
1 onion, peeled
180 g Swedes or turnips
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley or thyme
1 tbsp water or stock
Crusty hot water pastry (see recipe below)
1 tsp plain flour
1 egg, beaten
1. Heat the oven to 200C. Cut the meat into 1cm (quarter inch) dice. Peel the potatoes, onion and Swedes and cut into 1 cm dice. Combine meat, vegetables, salt, a generous amount of pepper, parsley and water or stock in a bowl and toss lightly to mix.
2. Make the pastry according to the following recipe. Place around 2 tablespoons of filling in the centre of a pastry round. Sprinkle a tiny bit of flour on top. Brush the edges of the pastry with a little beaten egg and bring both sides together to meet in the middle, pinching or crimping them firmly to seal, and pinching the ends into a point.
3. Place pasties on a lightly oiled baking tray, brush with beaten egg, and pierce a hole or two in the top to allow steam to escape. Bake for 10 minutes at 200C. Lower the heat to 180C and cook for another 30 minutes. Serve hot or cold with home made tomato sauce.
Crusty hot water pastry
Makes enough for 4 pasties. Takes 15 mins.
This is a lovely pastry that should still be warm as you roll it and shape it.
400g plain flour
half tsp salt
125 g chilled butter
150 ml water or milk
Sift flour and salt together. Combine butter and water or milk in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, add the flour and beat with a wooden spoon until it forms a ball.
Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for a minute or two until smooth, but don’t overwork. While the pastry is still warm, roll it out quite thinly, and cut into four bread plate-sized (20cm) rounds for the pasties.
Recipe by Jill Dupleix