If you are from Cornwall, shut your eyes and block your ears
for I am about to commit sacrilege. First though, here’s a little bit about the
Cornish pastry, the traditional fare of Cornish tin miners. It is simply a
half-moon-shaped savoury pastry containing diced beef skirt, onion, turnip
(swede), potato, maybe some parsley, and little else. In some places there was
a tradition of putting the initials of the owner on the pasty so that in mines
where an oven was provided, the miner could pick out his own pasty from the
hoards.
The Cornish pasty has recently been given Protected Geographical
Status, meaning only pasties made in Cornwall and containing only the
traditional ingredients can be called Cornish pasties.
As my humble pasty is not made in Cornwall, it is only Corn-ish.
These Corn-ish pasties went
down a storm at a picnic last weekend. As they cannot be truly Cornish I didn’t
feel so bad about going off-piste with ingredients like sweet potato and
chorizo. I’ve used a mixture of meats because that’s what was in the fridge.
You could use all beef mince if you prefer.
For 10 one-person pasties you will
need...
... to pre-heat the oven to 175°C at step 4
Pastry
500g plain flour
1 teaspoon fine table
salt
150g butter, chilled and
grated
175mls iced
water
1
Place
the flour, salt and grated butter in a large mixing bowl. Rub the butter into
the flour. This simply means taking pinches of the mixure and rubbing it
between thumb and fingers until it resembles fine breadcrumbs (or use your
stand mixer). Mix in just enough of the iced water to bring the pastry together
in a ball – you may not need all the water. Cover with cling wrap. Refrigerate until
needed.
250g minced beef
150g finely diced veal
75g onion, finely chopped
75g potato, finely diced
75g sweet potato, finely
diced
25g chorizo, finely diced
(optional)
1 tablespoon finely
chopped fresh parsley
½ teaspoon finely chopped
fresh thyme
¼ teaspoon fine table
salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground
black pepper
Egg wash
1 egg, beaten and mixed
with a pinch of salt
2
Place
all the filling ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and mix together
until the vegetables and herbs are well distributed throughout the meat.
3
To
assemble the pasties, roll out the pasty to about 3mm thick. Stamp out 13cm
circles (5 inches). I don’t have a pastry cutter this size so I use a small
bowl as a template, resting it on the pastry and cutting around it with a sharp
knife.
4
Pile
approximately 2 tablespoons of the mixture on one half of each pastry round,
leaving a margin of at least 1cm at the edge. Fold the other half of the pastry
over the filling and press the edges together.
5
Either
crimp the edges of the pastry together using a fork, or try this crimping
technique: Stand the pastry up so that the joined edges are at the top. Starting
at one end, clamp the pastry join between a thumb and forefinger and twist it
through 180 degrees, then using the other hand, hold this twist in place while
with the other hand you move along the top of the pastry, a thumbs-width at a
time, pinching and twisting. Tuck both ends under to seal the pastry.
 |
| Cheap therapy: Pinch and twist. Repeat. |
6
Place
the prepared pasties on a baking sheet lined with non-stick baking parchment.
Brush lightly with egg wash and transfer to the preheated oven.
7
Bake
for about 35 minutes or until golden brown. If like me you are rushing out the
door to a picnic, wrap the hot pastries loosely in a clean tea towel – they’ll
get soggy if you seal them in aluminium foil or cling wrap. Otherwise place
them on a cooling rack and leave them to cool. They also freeze beautifully.
 |
| Corn-ish pasties - ok who wants to fight over the last two? |
If life is
too short to take the time to fill and crimp 10 individual pasties, you could
always supersize them and make four large ones instead, for sharing. The larger
ones need about 50 minutes in the oven.
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