Cheese and Onion Pasty
Happy Pi Day! To celebrate, I have a pasty for you from my buddy Brian at Krumpli. He's one of my favorite bloggers and I love these bowls of his....? Is that a relevant tidbit? Whatever, it's TRUE! Anyway, check out his site for the most beautiful recipes and stories from his farm in Hungary! I apologize for being weird and asking him for a British recipe, but it worked out, eh?
I'm absolutely delighted to be writing here on Hill Reeves, I love her international brand of cuisine... For those of you that have no idea who I am, that be most of you I am sure, my name is Brian and I am a British chap that decided real life was far too boring so quit work and bought a little farm in the Hungarian countryside. I spend most of my time growing food, brewing wine, cooking eating, drinking an occasionally spending time on my foodie website, Krumpli.
When I spoke with Hillary about what she wanted I was quite surprised when she asked for something typically "British" and was a little confused as to what to cook. I was raised in a huge multi-cultural city and most of what I cook is really heavily influenced by being surrounding by food from all over the world as I was growing up. I really enjoyed sitting down and trying to work out what I consider to be typically British and the first thing that sprang to mind was pie. Us Brits love pie; heck who does not love pie?
But what Pie, I had already blown my bolt with my favourite pie, a pork pie, so opted instead for another old school favourite, a pasty. Loads of cultures have hand pies and in Britain that means a pasty, a cornish pasty is often thought of being the king of pasties which is typically cooked in a shortcrust pastry and filled with swede (this is Hill--that's a turnip!I), beef and carrots and lots of black pepper. Whilst I do love a good Cornish pasty I love cheese more and these are filled with sharp cheddar cheese and has a heavy bite of onion that has almost been steamed in a puff pastry crust. It may not be haute cuisine but it is food that I love and speaks a lot about us Brits, whether that is good or bad I will leave that for you to decide ;)
Cheese and Onion Pasty
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Yield: 8 pies
- 550g store-bought puff pastry
- 1 egg, beaten
- 200g sharp cheddar, grated
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 small potato, peeled and cubed
- 1 Tbsp grainy mustard
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
Cooking Directions
- Preheat your oven to 200°C Mix together all of the ingredients for the filling and set aside. Roll out the puff pastry so that it is approximately 3mm thick and cut into sheets that are approximately 25cm by 15cm.
- Pile on 1/8th of the filling mix to one half of the pastry. Use a little egg wash to seal the folded over half of the pastry and after pushing together use the 'teeth' of a fork to crimp together the edges.
- Brush the pasties with a little beaten egg. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
- As this is cooked with puff pastry and no one likes a soggy bottom, flip the pasties after 20 minutes and cook for a further 5 minutes.
- Serve hot or cold, they make a perfect picnic snack or even a lunchbox favourite.
