I could have roasted it and used it in a roasted veg tart but that felt a bit summery. It was pouring with rain outside and a bit chilly and I wanted hearty comfort food, so I decided to put it into a pasty filling with some beef skirt. Beef skirt is a lean fairly cheap cut which has fantastic flavour, you'll get it from a good butcher but if you can't find it use rump steak instead.
The pastry is a proper pasty pastry recommended by the Cornish Pasty Association. It's made with strong flour and is a cross between bread dough and pastry, it becomes quite pliable and stretchy so you can roll it quite thin without it cracking and twists easily when you crimp the edges. The filling is raw so as the pasties cook all the flavour and juices from the vegetables and beef stay within the pasty, nothing is lost.
This is not a quick recipe, but it's not difficult either and is the perfect way to unwind and while away a couple of hours on a rainy November day.
Makes 6
Takes about 2 hours plus 1 hour to chill the pastry
For the pastry:
500g strong white bread flour
120g white vegetable fat (such as Cookeen)
25g margarine or butter
1 tsp salt
175ml cold water
For the filling:
450g beef skirt or rump steak, finely chopped
2 medium onions (about 200g), finely chopped
600g mixed finely chopped butternut squash and potato ( I used about half and half as my butternut squash was small, but you can use all butternut squash and no potato if you have plenty)
Plenty of salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 knobs of butter
1 egg, beaten
1 Place the flour in a bowl, add the white fat, margarine or butter and salt. Rub in the fat until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the water and mix to form a dough, adding a little extra water if the mixture is too dry. Knead the dough then wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins in the fridge. The chilling time is important as the dough softens and becomes much easier to roll out.
2 While the dough is chilling place the chopped beef, onions, squash and potato in a bowl. Season with plenty of freshly ground black pepper and salt. Mix well.
3 Heat the oven to 170C, fan 150C, Gas 3. Divide the dough into six equal pieces and roll each piece to a round approx 23cm diameter. Pile one-sixth of the filling onto each round of dough, shaping it roughly on one half, leaving a 1cm border. Brush the border on one half with a little egg, place a knob of butter on top of the filling and fold the dough over to enclose the filling. Press the edges together to seal. Crimp the edge by starting at one end and twisting the dough edge along the pasty. Place on two baking trays, brush the pasties with beaten egg and bake in the oven for 45-50 mins until golden and crisp.
