Marcella Peek said:My husband and I spent the weekend in Nevada City and enjoyed some
cornish pasties at a little shop. As we walked through the town and the
nearby town of Grass Valley we looked in all the bookshops and kitchen
shops for local cookbooks that would have a recipe. Not much luck.
Recipes found said things like "make a less rich pastry dough, roll it
out and top with fillings. Make sure potatoes drip into meat. Bake."
Great if you have an idea what to do. Not so great for us. When we
asked at one kitchen store the owner said you didn't need a recipe
because you just made a less rich pastry dough etc. :-)
Does anyone have a more detailed recipe they would be willing to share?
I like Cornish pasties very much and here is a recipe I consider good,
based on my experiences in England. It is from the Time-Life "Food of
the World" series, "The Cooking of the British Isles". Personally, I
prefer to mince/grind the filling ingredients using a coarse disk.
Victor
Cornish Pasty
To make 16 six-inch pasties
1 tablespoon butter, softened
Preheat oven to 400°F. Using a pasty brush, coat a large baking sheet
with the 1 tablespoon of softened butter. Set aside.
Pastry
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups lard (3/4 pound), chilled and cut into 1/4-inch bits
8 to 10 tablespoons ice water
In a large chilled bowl, combine the flour, salt and lard. Working
quickly, rub the flour and fat together with your fingertips until they
look like coarse meal. Pour in 8 tablespoons of iced water all at once,
toss together, and gather the dough into a ball. If the dough crumbles,
add up to 2 tablespoons of water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the
particles adhere. Dust the pastry with a little flour and wrap in wax
paper. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a circle about 1/4
inch thick. With a pastry wheel or sharp knife, cut the dough into
6-inch rounds using a small plate or pot lid as a guide. Gather the
scraps together into a ball, roll it out again, and cut into 6-inch
rounds as before.
FILLING
1 cup coarsely chopped white or yellow turnips
2 cups finely diced lean boneless beef, preferably top round
1 cup coarsely chopped onions
2 cups finely diced potatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
With a large spoon, toss the turnips, beef, onions, potatoes, salt and
pepper together. Place about 1/4 cup of the mixture in the centre of
each pastry round. Moisten the edges of the rounds with a pastry brush
dipped in cold water, then fold the rounds in half to enclose the
filling completely. Press the seams together firmly and crimp them with
your fingers or the tines of a fork. Place the pasties on the baking
sheet, and cut two slits about 1 inch long in the top of each. Brush
lightly with the beaten egg and bake in the middle of the oven for 15
minutes. Reduce the heat to 350°F and bake for 30 minutes, or until the
pasties are golden brown. Serve hot or at room temperature.
