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Cornish Pasties

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Cornish Pasties

These pasties are easy to prepare because you don't need to precook the filling. They taste wonderful eaten hot or cold.

  • Nut Free
Preparation time:
30 minutes, plus chilling
Cooking time:
60 minutes
Total time:
1 ½ hours, plus chilling 60 minutes 30 minutes
Makes:
 4

Ingredients

  • For the filling
  • 1 medium potato, about 150g, peeled and cut into 1cm dice
  • 150g swede, peeled and cut into 1cm dice
  • 450g Aberdeen Angus braising steak, cut into 1cm cubes
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • Freshly ground white pepper
  • For the pastry
  • 400g plain flour
  • 100g butter, chilled and cubed
  • 100g lard, chilled and cubed
  • Milk or beaten egg, to glaze

Method

  1. Make the pastry first. Season the flour and sift into a large bowl. Add the butter and lard and rub them into the flour using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Sprinkle with 6-7 tablespoons of chilled water (enough to just bind the dough) and draw the mixture together with a round-bladed knife.
  2. Turn onto a floured work surface and knead gently to bring together then wrap the pastry in clingfilm and chill for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.
  3. Divide the pastry into 4 equal pieces and roll each one out on a lightly floured work surface using short sharp strokes, always rolling in one direction. Give the pastry a quarter-turn, then roll it again to form a round about 20cm in diameter and about as thick as a £1 coin. Cut into a circle using a plate as a guide. Reserve the trimmings to make pastry initials, if you wish.
  4. Divide the ingredients into 4. Arrange half a portion of potato and swede along the centre of a pastry circle. Top with steak then onion, then the rest of the potato and swede. Season each layer with white pepper.
  5. Lightly brush the edge of the pastry with water then carefully bring up the edges to the centre to cover the filling. Pinch or crimp between the forefinger and thumb of one hand and forefinger of the other to create a sealed crest over the top of the pasty. Add your initials cut from the trimmings. Repeat with the other pastry circles, place on a baking sheet and chill for 30 minutes.
  6. Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Brush the pasties with milk or beaten egg and cook for 1 hour until the pastry is golden and the filling cooked through. Serve hot or cold.

Cook's tips

Open-freeze the uncooked pasties on a tray and place in an airtight container in the freezer until required. Thaw completely and cook as above.

Variation

For cheesy ham pasties, add 75g grated mature Cheddar to the pastry and reduce the lard to 50g. For the filling, use 450g unsmoked gammon steak, cubed, 1 medium sliced leek and a sliced onion. You can also add a couple of chopped, hard boiled eggs.

For a sweet version, make the pastry with all butter and add 25g caster sugar. Divide the pastry into 6 and roll out to thin 20cm circles. For the filling, use 600g Bramley apples, peeled, cored and sliced. Divide between the pastry circles and sprinkle each one with a pinch of ground cloves and 25g light brown muscovado sugar. Seal and cook in a preheated oven at 180°C, gas mark 4 for 40 minutes. Serve with Cornish clotted cream.

Comments and images

Average user rating 4 stars out of 5

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fleurfulcher

fleurfulcher 09 May 2010 14:49

the Head Gardener is correct in their suggestion that this is not a 'Cornish' pasty, this, in fact, is a Devon pasty. In Devonshire the pasties are crimped at the top and have diced potato and swede rather than sliced. still yum though.

Head Gardener

Head Gardener 17 November 2008 10:28

The ingredients are correct, although I prefer to use a frying steak, but the method is not for Cornish pasties. They NEVER have anything diced in them, it is always sliced. They NEVER have the crimp over the top, but always to the side with a look of cabled rope. Thinly slicing the ingredients does make for a much more succulent pasty. The crimp position is more for aesthetics but it does make them look authentic.

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4 stars out of 5

Average user rating Based on 277 ratings

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Nutritional Info

Typical values per serving:
Energy 968.0kcal
Sugars 6.6g
Fat 53.6g
Saturated Fat 26.2g
Salt 0.5g

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This recipe was first published on Waitrose.com in September 2005