The dainty

“Dainty” meaning pleasing to the taste; choice; delicious. A smaller version of the original pasty, again ideal for a picnic, a lunch box or a survival kit so perfectly portable or just because you like them!

Use a quarter of the pasty pastry and roll out on a floured surface and using a cutter (or the top of a cup) – you'll get eight per quarter – 3”/8cms in diameter, may be even 9. I love making these “dainty morsels” - it's a kind of therapy – I think I need to get out more!

Anyway, here's the recipe :

Cheese and Onion Dainty

filling

1 medium or half a large onion, finely diced

50g finely grated Parmesan

celery salt and black pepper

sprinkle of dried parsley

Combine all the above ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Use approximately 10g of mixture and place in the centre of your pastry circle. Dampen the edge of half the circle and fold to seal.

The step by step photos so far :

There's more ...

Pasty bits and pieces

Last year we went to Padstow on holiday. We love to arrive ahead of time, park, and wander - just what you need after a long journey. Our custom is to eat in on the first night and part of the “wander” is to check out where the nearest fish and chip shop is in relation to where we're staying. We had a fab house in New Street, just three doors up from St. Petroc's Bistro one of Rick Stein's restaurants. The chippy was literally a few yards further down the hill – if I'd have shouted our order they'd have heard me – result!

A small tip – don't order a Cornish Pasty from a chippy, I did and it was not a good experience. Hey ho, can't win 'em all. Never let it be said that I shirk my culinary duties and the next day I found The Chough Bakery, 3 The Strand, Padstow PL28 8AJ – on the Quayside. Chough is a small family run bakery and has been around for nearly 30 years – well qualified! I purchased a vegetarian Cornish Pasty, it was fantastic and wasn't the only one eaten during the week. You can always tell how good a bakery is by the queue. I also bought pasties to bring home.

Note to self – check out the local bakeries first!

During my research for this series I read that pasties keep hot for a long time – not rocket science I know – but apparently if you want them to keep hot even longer wrap them straight from the oven in either greaseproof or baking paper and then a clean tea towel. The story went on saying that a pasty made in Helston would still be “hot” when arriving in Exeter. Sounds a bit like a fairy story. It takes 2 hours to drive from Helston to Exeter and approximately 100 miles.

Whilst I didn't drive the distance I did wrap a pasty as it said and left it for two hours. Guess what … it does work and the pasty, whilst not piping hot was more than warm – sounds ridiculous, is there such a temperature between warm and hot?

I hope you've enjoyed this series on the humble pasty. Simple, tasty fare which deserves all its accolades. Perfect portable food!

I'm sure you won't be surprised to know that I've a few more “pasty” ideas for the portable food slot – watch this space.

The baking and the cutting

Make sure you sprinkle flour on your baking tray, it prevents sticking. Pre-heat your oven 200fan/220c/Gas 7.

Baking a meat pasty

Bake for 30 minutes and check. Turn the

tray and bake for a further 20 minutes. Turn off the oven

and leave the pasties in, with the oven door closed for

another 15 minutes.

If you find that your pasties are brown enough after

the 30 minutes turn the oven down to 140fan/160c/Gas 3

for the following 20 minutes.

Baking a veggie pasty

I used a fan oven and baked for 20 minutes, then

turned the tray for a further 20 minutes, turned off the

oven and left, with door closed, for a further 10 minutes

Here they are : 

baked and beautiful – even though I say so myself!

anyone fancy a pasty?

In a word – yum!

Crimpinology

Like I said, you don't have to achieve a perfect circle – the crimping hides all the imperfections – have a look :

Here's the pastry folded over the filling and pressed down

firmly into a semi circle – sort of!

To crimp is to compress into small folds. To become a competent crimper takes lots of practice – be brave and have a go!

Have the pasty in front of you as illustrated in the photo above. If you are right handed begin on the right – on the left if you are left handed. Fold the corner end of the pasty over, place your thumb into the fold – this will help give you an even crimp, fold the pastry edge over and over towards you and continue until you reach the other end, tuck the end underneath and press to seal. Complete by making a small incision in the top of the pasty to release the steam.

They look like this :

Crimped and ready to egg wash

Egg washed and ready for the oven

Nearly there!

Step by step pasty pastry photos

Flour your surface well, unwrap your

dough

Cut your dough into four equal pieces

Don't stress if you don't achieve a perfect circle

Layer your meat and/or veggies as you prefer in the centre of the pastry. Moisten one half of your circle with water.

It looks like this :

Now for the tricky bit – the crimping – what I call crimpinology!

The end is in sight!

Here's a photo of the veggie filling :

You know how I like to mess about and hopefully make – in this case a pasty – a bit different. I've added a mornay sauce to the veggies, a stiff mornay sauce, you don't want it leaking through your pastry.

If you're interested, here's the recipe :

Mornay Sauce

20g unsalted butter

20g plain flour

300ml of milk – I use semi skimmed

75g mature Cheddar cheese

(or a combination of Cheddar and gruyere)

salt and black pepper

¼ tsp Dijon mustard - optional

Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the flour. Cook gently for a minute, stirring – make sure you don't brown the mixture. Gradually add the milk whisking constantly and eventually bring to the boil, whisking until it's smooth and thick. Lower the heat and simmer for 2 minutes, then add the cheese, mustard and season. I'd taste before you add salt – there's salt in the cheese – adjust accordingly.

This recipe will give you 420g of sauce – add 2 heaped tablespoons to your veggies and fold through. Cover and fridge until required. You'll have 280g of sauce left – the world is your Cornish pasty – serve extra sauce warmed in a jug on the side or freeze it – ready to use with another dish on another day! A fish pie gets my vote.

Back to the pasty

Flour your pastry board. Cut your pastry into four equal pieces. Roll out one into a circle, flip your pastry and turn it as you go, re-flour if you need to. You want a circle of 8-9” (21-23cms). If you're not good at rolling pastry measure the diameter of either a bowl or a plate to the size given and use, upturned, to get a perfect circle.

Step by step pastry photos next.

The Cornish pasty recipes – the filling

The traditional filling – per pasty

50g/2oz onion

50g/2oz turnip or swede

100g/4oz beef skirt, blade or chuck steak

150g/6oz sliced potatoes

salt and black pepper

Make sure the meat is free of fat and cut into similar sized pieces ¼” (6mm) and ensure that the turnip and onion is too. Cut your potatoes into quarters and then finely slice. You can submerge the potatoes in a bowl of cold water until you're ready to mix your filling together – drain and pat dry. Slice the onion and turnip to a similar size.

You have two options, layer each of the ingredients and season as you go then complete with a layer of potato. Don't salt the last layer, you'll affect the taste of the pastry.

Alternatively place all your ingredients in a large mixing bowl, season and mix well, cover and set aside to rest whilst you're rolling out the pastry. This option allows the ingredients to absorb all the flavours.

That's the recipe for a pasty with meat, here's mine without :

Veggie Pasty filling

sufficient for two pasties

100g/4oz leek

100g/4oz onion

150g/6oz sliced potatoes

celery salt

black pepper

dried parsley

As with the previous recipe, ensure that the veggies are sliced to a similar size – ¼”/6mm. I used a new potato – the Gold, a Charlotte would be perfect too. The reason I used a new potato is that I wanted there to be evidence of the potato with the other veggies and not a mush. It's more appropriate with the meat and potato that an “old” variety of potato is used to combine with the meat and other ingredients. Mix the veggies together and season well.

More photos up next and the end is in sight!