Cornish pasties are a traditional pastry food with a scrumptious filling of potatoes, meat, onions and vegetables – normally carrots and possibly peas.
Cooking time is about 30 mins to 1 hour
Preparation time is about 1.5 hours and it’s well worth the time spent for a very good meal.
You’ll end up with four pasties and they keep well in the fridge for later.
Basic ingredients that you’ll need
Pastry
- 500g/1lb 1 oz of Strong bread flour
- 120g/4oz vegetable shortening or suet
- 1 tsp salt
- 25g/1oz butter
- 175ml/6fl oz cold water
- 1 egg beaten with a little salt: this is used for glazing the pastry before putting into the oven.
Ingredients
350grams of beef, brazing steak, rump steak or ask your butcher.
350grams of potatoes
200grams of swede from your fruit and veg shop
175 grams of onions
Salt and pepper
A Knob of butter or margarine (butter is better).
How to make the Pasties
- Put the flour into a large bowl for mixing, add the shortening, a pinch of salt, the butter and all of the water.
- Mix the ingredients with a spoon. When it looks like its binding together, use your hands to begin to crush the mass together. It should develop into a dryish dough.
- Now put the dough onto a work surface, like a large bread board.
- begin to knead the dough so that it becomes consistent and strongly bound together. Use the heel of your hand to work it, roll it into a ball now and again and keep kneading it for about 5-6 minutes. It should turn into a smooth flat dough.
- When you are satisfied with the smoothness of the dough, wrap it in cling film and put it into the fridge for 30 minutes. This is important.
- Now peel and cut the potatoes, onions and swede into small squares. they will go into the mixture with the chopped steak.
- Put the ingredients into a bowl together and mix it up well. Add salt and the pepper.
- Take a baking tray and grease it with butter to avoid the pasties from sticking during the baking time. Then lay baking paper onto the tray.
- Preheat the oven to 170C /325F /Gas mark 3
- Remove the dough from the fridge after the proper time. Divide it into four balls and begin to roll them out into flat discs of about 25cm each. About the size of a dinner plate.
- lay the filling of meat and vegetables onto the discs, only cover one half of the disc because you will want to turn the the other half to create a closed wrap like pasty shape. Place a small knob of butter onto the filling.
- Fold the pastry over to create the half-moon shape, begin to crimp the edges together. You can use a fork to press down and ensure that the two sides are actually joining and melding together without over doing it.
- Put the pasties onto the baking tray and place it on the middle shelf in the oven. Paste the tops with the egg and salt mixture to glaze them.
- Let them bake for 30-40 minutes, check them occasionally to see that they are beginning to brown-off on top.
- Ovens are different, so if you discover that they are not browning off, raise the temperature a little during the last 5-10 minutes.
When you remove the pasties, they will be steaming hot. Give them plenty of time to cool down a little before eating. Inside is hotter than outside – that’s the point of pasties, they were originally made as a meal for miners to carry with them. The pastry jacket would keep the food inside very hot for hours.