Cornish Pasties

Good morning lovely! Have you ever thought about which meal you would have if you knew it was your very last meal? I call it the death row meal and for me it would probably be Fettucine Carbonara, for my husband its my Cornish Pasties. God love him, he would eat these every night for dinner if I let him - he's beyond obsessed I tell ya!
I made a batch yesterday and I thought I'd share the recipe with you because they are super yummy, and the pastry is one of the quickest and easiest savory pastries you will ever make. Here we go:

Centuries ago, the wives of miners and farmers in Cornwall (England) cooked these hearty pasties to sustain their husbands during their gruelling work days. They provided the men a well balanced meal, and they were easy to drop down the mine shafts at lunchtime. Its believed that the traditional thick curly crust of the pastry allowed the workers to hold the pasty with dirty hands and not contaminate the meal - women are just so clever aren't they?
My great grandfather was a coal miner in Cornwall (Tasmania) but I can't remember my great grandmother ever making pasties - I do remember her home baked bread though but that's a whole other blog post. :)
So lets start with the pastry, and like I mentioned this is super easy to make:

This pastry is perfect for sealing in the filling, and once cooked it maintains its shape without flaking - you can hold the pasty in your hand to eat on picnics etc. Its quick to make and its as simple as bringing some water and butter to the boil, adding it to some flour and salt and mixing it into a dough. Voila, its ready to chill. Super simple!
It is a very elastic dough and it doesn't overwork no matter how much you roll it. It doesn't dry out quickly either but I like to work with about a third at a time and leave the rest covered. It is soft so I get a million fingernail marks in it, and if I make a tear as I cover the filling I just break off a bit and work it over the hole to seal the pasty completely.

Traditionally the filling was made with potato, swede, onion and leftover beef. My Cornish Pasties are full of beef, potato, onion, carrot, peas and pumpkin - its one of the only ways I can get my boys to eat pumpkin. I used to take the time to get all the vegetables diced evenly but that cut into my sewing time so now I just chop them rough but small ;)
My filling is cooked first because I like my vegetables cooked well (not crunchy) and the gravy is made using beef stock, Worcestershire Sauce and flour. Just a note about the Worcestershire Sauce - I use 4 generous tablespoons because hubby loves the bite it gives to the filling but if that sounds a lot to you then start with 2 tablespoons.

The pasties are easy to assemble and I cut out my circles using a side plate which is about 15cm in diameter - this makes a decent sized pasty and you can get quite a lot of filling in there which is what you want. I brush some egg around the edges and I keep the filling towards the centre of the pastry circle so it doesn't ooze out as I fold and seal.
The recipe makes six pasties and I make a double batch and freeze them for quick and easy dinners. They're perfect to have with a chips or mashed potato in the winter or salad in the summer, and I like to serve them with either homemade relish, tomato sauce or a spicy chilli sauce.

I also use a variation of this recipe when we have left over lamb roast. I shred the lamb and make a curry throwing in some potato, onion, peas and chopped hardboiled eggs, which I have to say is just as delicious!  I also use the pastry recipe for my Cheese, Onion and Bacon pasties and my Egg and Bacon Pies because it holds its shape so well and its yummy!
The Cornish Pasty recipe originated as a way for woman to give their husbands a hearty meal with limited ingredients so play around with different fillings you have on hand. :)
If you would like to try my Cornish Pasties you can download the recipe by clicking the link or right click on the photos below and save to your computer:

The Cornish wives knew exactly how to feed their hardworking men, and the men in your life will thank you for making these Cornish Pasties - so will the women actually. :) Any guesses what we having for dinner tonight? Hubby is going to be soooo happy ;)
I hope you enjoy this recipe. If you haven't made pastry before then this one is a good one to try, and people will be impressed with your baking skills because seriously nothing tastes better than homemade does it? Enjoy!

Happy baking :)