Cornish Pasties (Cornwall)
Makes four large pasties
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
For
the pastry
120g
+ 25g hard vegetarian margarine, straight from the fridge
(or, much nicer to use to use half margarine and half hard
white vegetable fat
225g + 25g plain white flour
1tsp salt
150ml very cold water
To glaze sweetened soya milk
For
the filling
200g
potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks
½ medium onion, peeled and cut into chunks
125g swede, peeled and cut into chunks
2 - 3 rounded tsps light vegetable stock powder
50g canned kidney beans, rinsed and drained
To taste pepper
Method
1. Preheat oven to 190C / 375F / Gas mark 5. Grease a baking sheet, or
line with baking paper (not greaseproof)
2. To make the filling: put all ingredients except the kidney beans
into a food processor and process until very finely chopped. Turn into
a bowl and stir in the kidney beans. Add plenty of pepper to taste.
3. To make the pastry: Grate 120g margarine (or 60g margarine and 60g
white fat) into 225g flour and the salt. Stir and cut through well with
a large blunt knife to break up the fat and margarine a little.
4. Using the blunt knife to stir, gradually add enough water to make
a soft dough. Do not make too sticky. Using a little of the remaining
flour, gently roll out the pastry until about 1cm thick. Fold the pastry
into thirds by bringing the bottom edge up to about two thirds, and the
top edge down to cover. Then fold the sides in the same way. If not using
straight away, wrap in foil and store in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
5. To form the pasties: Roll out the pastry to about 1cm thick and cut
into 4 rounds about the size of a large tea plate. Pile filling into
the centre of each circle and top with a piece of the remaining margarine.
For each pasty, dampen the edge of the pastry with a little water, then
fold pastry over the filling to form and half circle. Try to stuff as
much filling in as you possibly can.
6. To make the traditional edging, beginning at the right side, use
the forefinger and thumb of your right hand to pinch the pastry together
while using the forefinger and thumb of your left hand to fold over the
section of pastry next to it. Move along to the next section of pastry,
and repeat. Continue in this way along the edge of the pastry, making
a rope-like join.
7. Place the pasties onto the prepared baking sheet. Brush each one
with sweetened soya milk, and prick with a fork to let the steam escape.
8. Bake in the preheated oven
for about 45 minutes until golden brown. Serve piping hot. The pasties
should not split open, but if they do,
it’s not a problem, they are merely called ‘laughing pasties’!
© The
Vegetarian Society
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