Lamb Pasties
This variation on a Cornish pasty can either be used as a main meal, served with potatoes or a light snack.
Overview
A Cornish-inspired pastry parcel filled with seasoned lamb, tender vegetables, and a rich, savory gravy. These hand-held pastries are perfect for portable meals, picnics, or as a sophisticated starter. The flaky shortcrust pastry encloses a deeply flavorful filling, a British classic that's remarkably easy to prepare at home.
Ingredients
- 750 grams Shortcrust pastry
- 1 egg (beaten)
For the filling
- 450 grams lean lamb (coarsely minced or chopped)
- 25 grams beef dripping (or lamb fat)
- 25 grams plain flour
- 1 garlic clove (crushed)
- ½ teaspoon thyme (freshly chopped)
- half teaspoon sage (freshly chopped)
- 100 grams onions (small dice)
- 100 grams carrots (small dice)
- 100 grams celery (small dice)
- 100 grams swede (small dice)
- 100 grams parsnip (small dice)
- salt
- pepper
- 25 grams plain flour
- 900 ml chicken stock (reduced to 300 ml)
- 150 ml veal jus
- 2 potatoes (boiled in their skins)
- Worcestershire sauce
Method
Stage 1 - Make Filling
- Fry the minced lamb in the dripping, colouring on all sides and separating the grains.
- Add the garlic, herbs, diced onions, carrots and celery, cover and cook for about 10 minutes.
- Season with salt and generously with the pepper.
- Add the flour and continue to cook for a few minutes, so the raw taste of the flour is removed.
- Add one-third of the reduced chicken stock and cook for 10 - 15 minutes.
- Check for seasoning and add the remaining stock and the veal jus.
- Peel the boiled potatoes and cut into 1 cm dice.
- Add them to the meat and cook for 5 - 6 minutes.
- Check for seasoning with salt and pepper again.
- Add 2 - 3 drops of Worcestershire sauce.
- Allow the mixture to cool.
Stage 2 - Shape Pasties
- Roll out the pastry and cut into eight squares (15 cm each).
- When the filling mix is cold, spoon some on to each square of pastry slightly off centre.
- Brush around the edges with the beaten egg and fold over diagonally to make a triangle.
- Trim to a semi-circle, shape and then pinch with thumb and forefinger all the way round the edges to seal.
- Brush over each of the pasties with the beaten egg and leave in the fridge for 20 minutes before baking.
Stage 3 - Bake
- Preheat the oven to 200°C and dampen a baking sheet.
- Sit the pasties on the baking sheet and place in the oven for 30 minutes, they should be crisp and golden brown.
Notes
- Vegetable dice: Consistent 1 cm dice ensures even, quick cooking and a pleasant mouthfeel.
- Filling moisture: Cook vegetables and meat until liquid is absorbed, excess moisture makes pastry soggy.
- Refrigeration: Chilling the filled pastries allows the gluten to relax and prevents shrinking during baking.
- Make-ahead: Shaped, unbaked pasties freeze beautifully for up to 2 months.
Serving
Serve with: Boiled potatoes, seasonal vegetables, or a fresh salad Garnish with: Watercress and tomato slices Accompaniment: Gravy or a dollop of crème fraîche
Storage
- Keeps 3-4 days refrigerated in an airtight container
- Freezes well up to 2 months (freeze before baking for best results)
- Excellent cold the next day for packed lunches
- Can be gently reheated in a 160°C oven for 8-10 minutes
- Best served warm or at room temperature, not hot
More like this
Shepherd's Pie
The lamb cousin of cottage pie, and the original of the two (cottage pie came later as a beef variant when lamb was harder to find). You brown lamb mince with onion, carrot and celery, then simmer with stock, tomato purée, Worcestershire and rosemary until the gravy is thick enough to hold a spoon upright. Top with garlic-butter mash piled in rough peaks that catch and crisp in the oven, and bake until the surface is deep gold. The lamb gives it a heavier, more savoury character than cottage pie's beef. That's what marks it as shepherd's rather than cottage. Eaten with peas, a spoonful of mint sauce on the side if you're being traditional, and a glass of bitter or a strong red.
Pasteis de Bacalhau
These are the little salt-cod fritters you'd order at a marble counter in Lisbon, sitting with a glass of vinho verde while the bartender slides a plate across with no ceremony. The recipe itself is simple, dry mashed potato through flaked bacalhau with onion, garlic, parsley and egg, then a brief fry, but it does start the day before because the salt cod wants 24 to 36 hours of cold water soaks to draw the salt out. That step is the one thing you cannot shortcut. Once the cod is desalted, everything else is an afternoon's work: simmer the cod, flake it through warm potato, shape into the three-sided football "quenelles" that are the Portuguese signature, and fry until amber. Eat them warm with a wedge of lemon and a dish of piri-piri on the side.
Aroog
Fine bulgur (#1 grade) soaks in hot water until soft and fluffy. Lamb or beef mince mixes with the bulgur, grated onion, lots of chopped parsley and coriander, ground baharat, cumin and a pinch of cinnamon. The mixture should be soft enough to spread, if it's too dry the aroog crumble. Small portions press onto a hot oiled pan and flatten to 1 cm thick discs; cook for 4-5 minutes per side over medium heat until deeply browned and the meat is just cooked through. Lift, drain briefly, eat hot with lemon and yoghurt.
Mafé
Bone-in beef or lamb is browned, then simmered with onions, garlic, tomato and stock. Smooth peanut butter is whisked in halfway and the stew thickens to a velvety coating. Chunks of cassava, sweet potato and cabbage cook in the sauce towards the end. Serve over plain steamed white rice.