The Great Recipe Book Challenge of 2013 - May

Hands up who likes pies? Me! I like pies! Pies, in all their varied forms and iterations. I have delved into the Hairy Bikers Perfect Pies before now and I have to say I owe them a great debt. In the past, they furnished me with a killer top crust receipy which gained me a mute nod of respect from the GIL (Grandmother-In-Law) and is still talked about to this day.

I was keen then to see what other gems could be uncovered and this month the eye of the great random generator beast fell on Cheese and Onion Pasties. A reasonable challenge I thought, and even though Mrs. P. voiced her exasperation over another dull receipe, I decided to ignore her pitiful cries and gorge on the pasty fest regardless, after all, no-one said this was going to be easy did they!

I hadn't made pasty pastry before and it was slightly different to my usual type.Not as flakey and certainly containing more weight than I usually like in a pastry, but certainly necessary to keep the melted cheeseyness within.

I was quite proud of my crimping. it was my first real go and while sufficient it certainly got better the more I did. In this picture you can also see the various sizes of pasty that were achieved. Rolling the pastry didn't get them thing enough before I cut them into circles - perhaps a result of not having enough space but I think that might just be a bad excuse!!

The end results actually made me rather proud, in a strange pasty inspired kind of a way. Mrs. P. liked them but I felt that they needed more cheese, or at least they needed some way of bringing the cheese through the pastry more. Next time, I would add more parmesan to the pastry and then grate on top too.

Tasty Tasty!

2 medium potatoes (approx 300g), peeled and chopped into cubes

50g butter

2 medium onions, finely sliced

150g Cheddar cheese, grated

1tsp English mustard

flaked sea salt

ground black pepper

Pastry

450g plain flour

2tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

125g cold butter

2 large egg yolks

50g Parmesan cheese, grated

150ml water

egg to glaze

Bring a Saucepan of salted water to boil and add the potato cubes. Bring back to the boil for 5 minutes. Drain and cool.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan and gently fry the onions for 10 minutes or until softened but not coloured, stirring repeatedly. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Scatter the potato onto the onions and add the grated cheese and mustard. Season with salt and pepper and mix together. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C/180 for fan ovens, gas mark 6.

Pulse the flour, baking powder , salt, butter and egg yolks in a processor (or if you are like me, in a big bowl and stir with your hands). slowly pour in the water until the mixture becomes a dough (you might not need all the water). Roll the dough into a ball.

Roll out the pasty on a lightly floured surface until it is about 5mm thick. Using a side plate, cut out 6 or 7 pastry rounds (about 15cm across), re-rolling as necessary. Divide the filling between the pastry rounds, placing it across the centre. Brush the sides with beaten egg, bring up the sides and crimp to seal firmly. Repeat until they are all beautifully rustic.

Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and brush with more egg to glaze (i added a sprinkle of salt too). Bake for 25/30mins until browned and the filling is hot!