"Cornish" Pasty

As you may know, Celestial Dragon and Divine Cherry have a predilection for the north-east in general. They have been travelling the worlds for millennia now but, for some reason, their feet (or wings or paws or, more recently, air-borne steel-containers propelled by a zillion bhp-strong engines) have always veered them towards the general north-eastern direction. On their way there, however, they have stopped at various other points in space and time. One of those was, surprisingly enough, the south-west (a point in time, in case you were wondering). There it was that they first encountered this dish. Imagine then, if you will, their consternation at seeing something so vaguely familiar yet so utterly different from everything else they have ever laid their eyes upon. (Quite literally: they both belong to that now-extinct school of thought that maintains that in order to fully understand something, you have to set your eyes on it. Sadly, most members are now dead: they have fallen off various cliffs around the world. Due to blindness. True story.) Yet Divine Cherry and Celestial Dragon, undaunted by the danger, decided to give this one a try anyway. After all, their eyes grow back like shark teeth. Only less sharp - hence the glasses.
Nevertheless, they thought it best to tweak the original recipe a teeny tiny bit. Namely, while the true Cornish Pasty does not have a pre-cooked filling, Celestial Dragon and Divine Cherry thought it prudent to dispense with this instruction and effectively cook the filling before stuffing the pasty.
This is how they did it:

Recipe (taken from Tender, Vol. 1 by Nigel Slater)
Ingredients (for 6 pasties)
Dough:
-225g of unsalted butter (or half butter, half lard)
-450g of flour
-1 egg to glaze the surface of the pasty with
Filling:
-450g of beef cut in small pieces
-400g of potatoes
-200g of swede
-1 large onion

Cut the butter in small pieces, add the flour to it and amalgamate it all quickly. Let it rest in the fridge for one hour. In the meantime, prepare the filling.
Lightly fry the onion in a pan with a bit of oil and butter. Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and the swede, cut it in cubes about the size of the meat, and steam them. Remove them from the steamer when they are done but are still crunchy.
Add the meat in the pan (with the onions), and when it's almost ready, add the vegetables and let it all absorb the flavours (be careful not too cook it too long, though, for the meat may dry out and the vegetables may start to fall apart).

Now switch on the oven at 180°C. Take the dough out of the fridge, stretch it with a roller (until it's about 2-3mm thin) and cut out circles of about the diameter of a dessert dish (in our case, +- 18cm). Put a spoonful of filling in the centre of the circle, wet its edges with a humid finger, and close it up in such a way that it'll form a half-moon. Make sure to seal the edges off well. Now apply some small cuts on the top of your pasty. Mix and stir the egg with some water and, using a kitchen brush, glaze the pasties with it.
Put it in the oven for about 30mins until the pasties will have turned a succulent golden colour.

Ricetta in italiano
Per 6 fagottini.
Nota: Nelle Cornish Pasties originali il ripieno non va cotto, la carne e i tuberi vanno messi direttamente crudi nell'impasto e si cuoce tutto in forno. Io personalmente trovo che far insaporire prima il ripieno sia meglio.
Ricetta tratta da Tender Vol. 1 di Nigel Slater.
Impasto:
- 225g Burro (o metà burro,metà lardo)
- 450g farina
-1 uovo per spennellare la superficie
Ripieno:
- 450g manzo a tocchetti da spezzatino
- 400g patate
- 200g swede (tipo di rapa arancione)
- 1 cipolla grande

Tagliare il burro a piccoli pezzi, aggiungere la farina e impastare velocemente. Far riposare in frigorifero per un'ora. Nel frattempo preparare il ripieno:
Far appassire la cipolla tritata in una padella con un po' d'olio e burro. Nel mentre pelare le patate e lo swede, tagliarli a cubetti grandi piu' o meno come i bocconcini di carne e farli cuocere al vapore. Scolarli quando sono ancora un po' croccanti.
Far rosolare la carne nella cipolla, quando e' quasi cotta aggiungere i tuberi e insaporire il tutto per qualche minuto ( attenzione a non cuocere troppo in questo passaggio, altrimenti la carne secchera' e le verdure si disferanno).

A questo punto accende il forno a 180°C . Prendere l'impasto, stenderlo con il mattarello a uno spesso di 2-3 mm e con l'aiuto di un piattino da dessert (il mio aveva un diametro di 18 cm), tagliare dei cerchi dall'impasto.
Porre al centro del cerchio un cucchiaio di ripieno, bagnare il bordo del cerchio con un dito inumidito d'acqua e chiudere l'impasto a forma di mezza luna. Sigillare bene i bordi con le dita. Per far sfiatare il vapore, fare due piccole incisioni sulla superficie del fagottino. Spennellare la superficie del fagottino con un un uovo sbattuto con un po' d'acqua.
Infornare per circa mezz'ora o finche' i fagottini risulteranno dorati in superficie.


Enjoy,
And Spread the Mess