Recipe//002 Cheese & Onion Cornish Pasties

This was an interesting one. In the main everything I normally cook goes pretty well (modest I know). However.. these pasties were a bit of a nemesis. Having grown up surrounded by pasty shops, I know a perfect pasty does exist so trying to make one from scratch that rose to the occasion was a big challenge. I've included the recipe I used to make the pastry and the filling, however if I am TOTALLY honest I would probably just buy the pastry next time ready made. This is only because I have now made pastry from scratch and I think everyone should do it once. I've done my once, job done, tick! 

 

Method

1// Start by making the pastry. Add your sifted flour, lard and butter in to a mixing bowl and rub lightly between fingertips until it starts to form breadcrumbs. This can take a little while so take your time.

2// Once your mixture looks like breadcrumbs, slowly add 6 tbs of water gradually and mix with a blade of a knife. Do this until your Breadcrumbs start to come together and form a firm dough. Gather dough in to a ball and knead gently and briefly on a floured surface. Wrap in clingfilm and place in fridge to chill for 20 minutes.

3// To make filling, quarter potatoes and thinly slice. Do the same with the turnip and onions. Grate cheese and mix all ingredients together in bowl. Season with LOTS of black pepper, Cornish sea salt and sprinkle over a crushed vegetable stock cube.

4// Preheat over to 200 degrees. Take pastry out of fridge and cut in to 6 equal pieces. Using your hands mould the pieces in to balls. On a lightly floured surface you can start to roll out pastry with rolling pin, keep rolling out until pastry is approximately 23cm in diameter.

5// To create a perfect circle, gently place a round plate on top of pastry and cut around.

6// Place a handful of filling in centre of pastry. Whisk egg in separate bowl and use to coat around edges of pastry (If you have a brush use this, or if you don't just gently use your fingers), this will act as a sort of glue. Gently bring edges of pastry to meet each other to create a pasty shape.

7// Now this is the fun part... crimping. We sort of developed our own style but this YouTube tutorial is great if you want to be come a crimping expert! 

8// Once all your pasties have been filled and crimped, glaze with remaining egg wash. 

9// Place pasties on to baking tray and bake for 20 minutes at 200 degrees, turn back to 170 degrees and bake for a further 45 minutes.

10// Leave to cool for 2 minutes and serve with tomato ketchup if you wish. 

Also featured are our St. Ives Illustrated tea towels. You can find them here for £10.