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The pastry in a pasty is short crust pastry - easy to
make especially with our pictures. Once you have mastered it for this
recipe it can be used in many others including fruit pies.
Our pasty is shown with chips from our local chippie -
he's only three minutes down the road and I'm not frying potatoes when
he does it so well! |
KEY POINTS
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Preparation Time: |
30 mins (plus 30 mins refrigeration) |
Cooking Time: |
55 mins |
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How Difficult |
Medium |
Freeze? |
Yes - ideal |
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Servings |
6 portions |
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INGREDIENTS
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Metric |
Imperial |
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Shortcrust Pastry |
Shortcrust Pastry |
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220g plain flour |
8 ounces plain flour |
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55g butter |
2 ounces butter |
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55g lard |
2 ounces lard |
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½ teaspoon dry mustard |
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2 tablespoons water |
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Filling |
Filling |
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170 g minced beef |
6 ounces minced beef |
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1 medium sized old potato |
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1 medium onion |
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115g swede |
4 ounces swede |
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1 medium carrot |
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2 teaspoons dried parsley or 4 teaspoons
chopped fresh parsley |
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2 fl oz / 120 ml beef stock (one stock cube) |
¼ cup beef stock (one stock cube) |
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½ teaspoon English Mustard |
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1 medium egg |
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Salt and pepper to taste |
WHAT SPECIAL KITCHEN EQUIPMENT
Rolling Pin
The recipe below has lots of pictures, but you can also view our video
on making perfect shortcrust pastry by
clickinxg here.
COOK'S NOTES
This is our version of the Cornish Pasty, it's tasty, quick to cook and easy.
CLICK ANY PICTURE BELOW TO ENLARGE IT
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Ideally the butter and lard
should be at room temperature. Cut it into cubes and leave outside the
refrigerator for half an hour. Put the butter and lard in a large bowl and sift the
flour over them. Sift from as high as is reasonable to incorporate air
into the flour. Sprinkle the dry mustard over the mix. Take a knife to the mixture and cut the butter
and lard into the flour - do this for two minutes. |
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Rub the mixture together
with your fingertips as gently as possible. As you rub the mixture, raise
your hands and let the rubbed mixture drop back into the bowl. This will
add air into the mixture. Continue doing this until the mixture
is evenly crumbly with maybe the odd few larger lumps. Don't overdo this
rubbing. |
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Sprinkle one tablespoon of
water over the mixture and use a knife to to mix and bring the dough
together. Do this for a minute or so then begin to bring it all together
gently with your fingertips.
If the mix doesn't come together, add a small amount of extra water.
The pastry is ready when when it leaves the edges of the bowl fairly
clean. Place the mix in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. |
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Right now, back to the pasty
filling! The most difficult part here will be chopping the swede. Enlarge
the picture to the left to illustrate the next sentence. Peel the swede
with a sharp knife. The enlarged photo shows a clear line around the edge
of the flesh, everything outside this line should be peeled. Chop the
swede into small chunks. |
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Click on the left hand
picture to get an idea of the size of the chopped pieces. Peel and chop
the potato into small chunks and the onion finely chopped.
We forgot to include the carrot in the picture, but lightly peel that
and chop it into small chunks. |
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Put the chopped swede,
carrot, potato, parsley, stock and onion in a bowl and add the minced beef and English
Mustard. Use a knife to cut the minced beef into small strands
and mix the lot together with your hands so that the ingredients are
roughly spread evenly throughout the mixture. Add some salt (¼
teaspoon depending on your taste) and a few shots of pepper. |
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Take the pastry from the
refrigerator and roll it out with a rolling pin to about 5mm (⅛ inch)
thick. Press a saucer over the rolled pastry and cut round it to leave a
circle of pastry. There should be enough pastry for 6 circles. You may
need to do three circles then reform and re-roll the pastry. Place some of
the filling on each circle. Enlarge the left hand picture for an idea of
how much. |
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This part may look
complicated but if the amount of filling is correct it's really easy.
First pre-heat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4. Crack the
egg and mix the white and yolk together. Brush a small amount of the egg
around the edges of the pastry. Bring two edges of the pastry together to
make a 'parcel' and crimp the edges together all the way round. |
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Brush the sides of the
pasties with the egg (to give a browned colour during cooking).
Put the pasties in the pre-heated oven on a greased baking tray for 55
minutes. |
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Serve the pasty with
whatever takes your fancy, fresh vegetables, baked beans or just by
themselves. We took the absolute English accompaniment and served them
with chips from our local chippie - absolutely delicious! |
MORE BRITISH RECIPES
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