How to Bake Cornish Pastry

Yields: 4 pastries

Preparation time: 25 mins

Cooking time: 45 mins

Ingredients needed to make Cornish Pastry:

For the pastry:

• 4 oz all purpose flour
• 3 tbsp cold water
• 2 oz butter, diced
• Pinch of salt

For the filling:

• 4 oz rump steak, diced
• ½ cup potatoes, chopped into ¼’’ cubes
• ¼ cup onion, finely chopped
• 1 egg, beaten
• ½ cup swede, chopped into 1/4’’ cubes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cooking instructions for Cornish Pastry:

• Warm up your oven to 400 degrees F.
• Place the flour in a clean, medium bowl and stir in a dash of salt and the diced butter.
• Crumble the butter with your fingertips and toss them all together until they form a mixture, resembling fine bread crumbs; make a point to work swiftly to prevent the dough from getting warm.
• Splash some water into the mixture and stir them together, using a cold knife, until they form a smooth, pliable dough.
• Knead the dough for a couple of minutes and wrap it up in a plastic sheet.
• Leave it in the fridge for about half an hour to chill.
• Take it out of the fridge and peel off the plastic sheet.
• Split the pastry into 4 parts and roll each of them into circle, of about 6-7’’ in diameter.
• Place the meat in a large mixing bowl and throw in the diced potatoes, swede chunks and chopped onions.
• Toss them well together to mix well and sprinkle a dash of salt and black pepper to season according to your preference.
• Split this prepared filling into 4 equal parts and spoon each part onto the side of one pastry circle.
• Moisten the edges of each pastry circle with small amount of beaten egg and fold the other side of the circle over the filling to form a semi-circle.
• Press the edges together to seal and crumple them together to make it look pleasant.
• Smother the surface of each pastry with rest of the beaten egg and arrange them on a baking sheet, greased earlier with a lashing of oil.
• Bake them in the oven at the preheated temperature for about 45 minutes or until they puff up and turns golden brown.
• Remove from oven and set aside until they are cool enough to handle.
• Place a pastry on each serving plate and slice each of them into two.
• Serve warm with your favourite gravy and creamy mashed potatoes.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Last Updated on January 29, 2013 by