Cornish Pasty by Paul Ainsworth
| Serves: 8-10 | Category: Beef, Tarts & Pastry | Machine: Cooking Machines | Total time (min.): 85 |
To celebrate Cornish pasty week, Paul is showing his decadent take on the humble Cornish pasty. Rich buttery pastry filled with delicious beef skirt, diced swede, potato and onion. Paul’s secret ingredient is the wonderfully rich Cornish clotted cream, which creates a velvety broth and ensures the filling stays moist and tender. The pastry needs to be rested for at least 12 hours for best results, but we promise you it’s totally worth the wait!
Ingredients
For the pastry:
- 1kg strong plain flour
- 250g Cornish butter
- 250g lard/dripping
- 3 eggs
- 150ml milk
- 150ml cold water
- 1 tsp Cornish sea salt
- Extra flour for rolling pastry
- 1kg beef skirt diced
- 1 swede/turnip peeled and 1cm dice
- 4-5 large potatoes peeled and 1cm dice
- 2 large onions 1 cm dice
- 250g Cornish clotted cream
- Salt for seasoning
- Ground white pepper for seasoning
- 3 egg yolks with a splash of milk for glazing the pasties
Tools
- Cooking Chef XL
Method
For the pastry:
- Add the flour to the Kenwood mixing bowl with the salt to make the pastry.
- Dice the butter and lard into small cubes and add to the flour.
- On a slow setting using the dough hook or paddle attachment, start to rub the fats into the flour until you achieve a coarse crumb consistency, then stop the machine.
- Combine the eggs, milk, and water together and add to the flour and fat and combine on the slowest speed to form a dough, don't overwork the dough.
- Form a ball on the bench and wrap well with cling film and leave to chill in the fridge for at least 12 hours.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and portion into equal-sized balls - around 200g makes a good-sized pasty
- Roll each dough ball into a round disc using a well-floured rolling pin and floured surface. Ensure each disc isn't too thin about 1/2 cm thick is just right.
For the filling:
- Now add the filling - you can add all the filling ingredients together and mix well or layer each one individually. First a small handful of potato, then swede and onion, followed by the diced beef on top. Make sure to season each layer with salt and pepper lightly, and the ingredients are in the centre of the pastry disc giving enough room to fold the pastry and crimp. Top the mix with a little dollop of clotted cream; this will add richness to the pasty and help make a gravy with the beef juices.
- Fold the pastry over the filling and join the edges together by pressing firmly. You can now crimp or use a floured fork to fork and seal the edges.
- Lay the pasties on a greaseproof lined tray making sure they aren't touching, and glaze all over with the egg yolks and milk mixture.
- Place in a pre-heated oven 180°C and bake for 55 minutes until golden brown.