I’m sure most of you know that Cornish Pasties (not to be confused with
pastries) is a dish that originated in Cornwall, England. I remember clearly my
teacher telling us that is bygone years; the miners would take a pastie for
their lunch. She also told us that the pastie would be large with two sections; a
meat section and a sweet section with a partition of dough. Traditionally,
the pastie was filled with lamb, but over the years, I’ve discovered that not many of my American friends like lamb, so I usually use beef.
Ingredients
About ½ lb. short crust pastry (recipe below – it’s really easy)
About 2 cups of chopped (cooked) leftover beef (or lamb)
1 finely chopped potato
1 finely chopped onion
About 1/4 cup of beef stock or broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.
Short Crust Pastry
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup shortening
1 teaspoon salt
Using a fork, blend all ingredients together in a basin. Add just
enough cold water to make a pliable dough. Knead lightly on a floured board and
roll out thinly until about as thick as a quarter.
Method
Roll out the pastry as noted above. Use a saucer or something of similar size
and cut rounds of pastry. Place a heaped teaspoon of the meat mixture in the
center. Wet the edges of the pastry and pull towards the center, making sure
the edges of the pastry sticks together. HELPFUL
HINT: Pinch the sides of the pastie
so the gravy doesn’t run out. Then pinch the rest of the pastie together. (See
photograph). Brush with egg and bake in a hot oven 400 for about 30-40 minutes.
Scrumptious! They freeze well too so you could make a batch and pull them out
of the freezer as and when needed.
