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.

Mini Mince Pies with Frangipane Tops

I tend to make mini mince pies as feel a pile of minis looks somehow more attractive than half a dozen regular ones. It also allows you to have several different variations in the toppings and the possibilities of including ones with apple pie fillings for those that don't like mincemeat.

For this recipe you will need a quantity of Christmas Pastry or plain shortcrust if you prefer.

You will also need a jar of Mincemeat. 

For the Frangipane you will need:

2oz butter, softened

2oz golden caster sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

4 oz ground almonds

3 - 4 drops of almond extract (or to taste - I like a lot!)

1 pear

Begin with making your frangipane. Place your butter and sugar into a bowl and beat together. Slowly add the beaten eggs and continue to mix. 

A little at a time mix in the ground almonds and then flavour with the almond extract; make sure it is all thoroughly combined. Set this aside while you line the tins. 

Roll out your pastry on a floured board and cut circles to fit a mini cake tray. Make the pastry as thin as you can without it breaking as it will cook easier. Also with mini pies you will need more room for filling and don't want your pie too full of pastry!

In the bottom of each pie case place a small teaspoon of mincemeat. Now take your frangipane and place a small teaspoon on top. It doesn't have to be too neat as it will puff up under cooking and should sort itself out. 

Pre-heat the oven to 200C.While the oven is pre-heating you can finish off the pies. Take your pear and slice it up into slivers about 1 cm across and maybe 2 mm thick. If possible leave a bit of skin on the outside edge. Push two pieces of pear into the frangipane on each pie. 

Pop into the oven for about half an hour. Timings vary considerably depending on how efficient your oven is, so check the pies often and if necessary turn the trays around half way through. 

Christmas Pastry

This is a slightly special pastry for the Christmas season, especially good for home-made mince pies!

The amount of mince-pies you will get from these quantities will vary depending on whether you favour lidded pies, open pies or mini mince pies!

8oz  plain flour

1 1/2 oz icing sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

5oz butter, straight from the fridge and cut into small cubes

Grated rind of one orange

4 tbsp cold water

(If you have no fresh oranges to hand you can make this recipe by substituting the rind and the water for and equal amount of orange juice)

Sift together the flour, icing sugar and cinnamon. Rub in the chilled butter until the whole mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Cold hands and chilled butter are essential to making good pastry. If you suffer from hot hands it is worth running them under cold water and drying thoroughly before rubbing in the butter. It is also why butter is best used straight from the fridge and not left at room temperature before rubbing.

Once you have that mixture looking like breadcrumbs you an stir in the grated orange rind. 

Add small amounts of the water until you have to knead the dough instead of stirring it. If you add too much water by mistake just add a little more sifted flour until the balance is restored. Once its properly kneaded it should be smooth and pliable.

Wrap the pastry in cling film and pop in the fridge until it is needed.

Medieval Sweet Onion Tart

Ingredients

Pastry for a 12 inch quiche tin

8oz onions or shallots, finely sliced

2oz butter

1/2 pint double cream

pinch of saffron

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

pinch each of ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon

2 tsp sugar

Method

Roll out pastry and line a twelve inch quiche tin. Bake blind at 190 C for 15 minutes. Leave to cool. 

Fry the onions/shallots in the butter until caramelized. In a separate pan, bring the double cream to the boil, take off the heat and add the saffron. Leave to infuse for five minutes.

In a clean bowl whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, spices and sugar. Add the onions/shallots, then the cream and stir together. 

Pour into the cooled pastry case and bake at 190 C for 30 minutes or so until set.