Leek, Potato and Cheese Pasties

This simple little recipe makes around eight small pasties, which are great eaten hot or cold.

Ingredients

12oz Potato, cut into small cubes
1 pint Vegetable Stock
6 Baby Shallots, cut in quarters
Half a Leek, sliced
Knob of Butter or tablespoon of Olive Oil
4oz Mature Cheddar Cheese or Vegan Cheese Alternative
Pastry (shortcrust or puff both work well, I use ready-made Rough Puff)
Half teaspoon of Dried Oregano
Half teaspoon of Dried Sage
1 Egg, beaten for glazing (optional)

Method

Bring the stock to the boil and add the potatoes. Simmer until the potatoes are part cooked and just softening.

In a small frying pan heat the butter or oil, then add the leeks and shallots. Saute until they are soft, but not browning.

Once the potato is cooked strain off the liquid. Put it on to a plate to got cold. 

Take the shallot and leek off the heat and also allow to cool.

While they are cooling, flour your rolling surface and roll out your pastry. Sprinkle the pastry with the herbs and roll these into it as you go. The pastry need to be fairly thin to cook well, but not so thin they'll split when you assemble the pasties. This will largely depend on which type of pastry you're using.

Using an upturned saucer as a template, cut out as many circles as you can get from your pastry. I usually manage about eight from a pack of ready made puff pastry. If using shortcrust I would make my own pastry from scratch, but rough puff is where I draw the line!

Once your pastry is cut pop it to one side while you make the filling.

In a large mixing bowl combine the grated cheese, cold potato and leek mix from the frying pan. If you like herbs you can add a few to the mix, but remember there are already some in the pastry! Make sure you mix it all well.

Using a desert spoon pile some of the mixture in the centre of a pastry disc. You can mould it quite eaisily to make the process a little less messy and get more of the filling into each pasty.

Preheat your oven to 200C. Ovens vary a lot, so you may wish to fractionally lower or increase the heat.

Brush beaten egg around the edge and pinch together the top edge, followed by the seam either side. When you've got all your pasties assembled, place them on a baking tray and brush the tops with egg.

 

Place in your oven and cook for around 20 minutes. Check your oven often as you may need to move your pasties around if your oven, like mine, is a bit old and has hot spots! When they have gone golden brown and probably spewed out a little melted cheese they'll be done. Don't worry if they take a little more or less time. Just keep an eye on them and take them out when they look like this...

This basic recipe can be adapted to suit your own tastes. My mother makes a vegan version quite easily and you can even add different fillings. You could easily include mushrooms or onions. You could even use a little sweet potato or parsnip mash in place of some of the potato mix.

Tomato and Stilton Soup

As always, remember that the smaller you chop your ingredients the quicker they will cook! Keep chunks to less than 1/2 inch whenever possible. With the exclusion of the cheese garnish you could easily make this a vegan dish.

Ingredients

2oz butter

2 tbsp rape seed oil

2 medium onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 celery sticks, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 lb tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 400g tin (= 14oz) of plum tomatoes

1 1/2 pints of water

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 pint red wine

4oz Stilton cheese, crumbled

Heat the butter and oil in a good size saucepan and over a gentle heat soften the onion, garlic and celery. Add the carrots and the fresh tomatoes. Cook on for a further 10 minutes and occasionally give it a stir to avoid sticking and cool spots. 

Add the canned tomatoes and boiling water, followed by the tomato puree, sugar oregano and wine. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to allow the soup to simmer for up to an hour while the vegetables cook. Once they are soft and cooked through take the soup off the heat and allow to cool some. 

Transfer soup to a blender and whiz until the texture is smooth and lump free. (If you do not have a blender you can push it through a sieve by hand). 

Pour the soup back into the pan and re-heat before serving. Pour into bowls and garnish with the crumbled Stilton cheese.