Cornish Pasties Pie 🇬🇧

I have always been afraid to approach pastry, I have always held the opinion that if I wanted a pie, sweet or savoury then my mum was the go-to person and she’d be more than happy to accommodate… when finally the day came where I was sat in her kitchen just as she was about to start the sacred ritual of pastry making. I quickly took the initiative to grab my notepad and pay attention to see if I could unravel the enigma… at last success!!! And here’s what I discovered…

Making the Rough Puff Pastry

I make it first thing in the morning or the night before and leave in the fridge. Or batch make to freeze, taking out the night before. But pastry needs to rest in the fridge.

For one 8″ Pasty Pie you need:
12 oz Plain Flour
large pinch of salt
3 oz lard – room temperature
3 oz hard baking margarine – room temperature

Rub the fat into the flour and salt, not too finely. Add very cold water slowly until just enough to bring together. Gently knead with your hands until incorporated into a smooth ball, wrap in cling film and place in the fridge to rest.

Assemble all your ingredients:

12 – 14 oz beef skirt, cut into little pieces.
Swede, chipped small from a whole piece
Leeks, sliced finely
Onion, roughly chopped
Potatoes, chipped like the swede
Parsley, chopped
Salt and Pepper.
A little extra flour for dredging.

Make sure to slice your vegetables thinly and uniformly as possible so they can cook evenly and the flavours will be able to amalgamate.

Make your Pie:

Roll out just under 2/3rds of your pastry, keeping it round and even and making sure you have enough to hang over the lip for the crimping. Slide your rolling pin underneath, lift and place it over the tin.

Start the filling:

Filling the pie has to be done with a methodical approach so you can build the layers and distribute evenly.

Start with the swede, potatoes, leeks and meat, then repeat, sparingly season with salt, pepper and parsley in between and a little flour to absorb the juices.

Roll out the rest of the pastry crust. Lift with your rolling pin as before. Level out the edges and trim so everything is even. Press together and start the crimping, as the photo. Press towards the centre and make a slit in the centre top. You can brush with milk or egg if you wish. Place in your very hot pre heated oven 220 deg C for the first 10 mins to set the pastry. Turn down to 190 deg C and bake for 1 hour 20 mins, more or less, according to size and thickness.