Pi Contest, a Cornish Pasty

Is a Cornish Pasty a Pie? Well according to Wikipedia "The English word Pasty derives from Medieval French (O Fr paste from V.Lat pasta) for a pie" So I'm saying it does

As an immigrant to New Zealand from England I am appalled by what passes for a pasty here, I have bought some in shops that have had peas, corn and even broccoli in them. So, in order to get the "genuine" article I have to make them myself.

• For note I am not Cornish, I was born in Somerset, but lived in both Devon and Cornwall for many years.

Bit of history, Pasties were traditionally made for the tin miners in Cornwall and had a savory (meat) end and sweet (fruit) end, they are designed to be eaten by holding the thick crust keeping any toxic minerals away from the miner, the crust was then discarded

The Ingredients for a Cornish Pasty are simple

Meat (I have used Minced Beef)

Potato

Onion

Seasoning

Apple

Pastry

Po-tay-toe, boil'em, mash'em stick'em in a stew

A couple of nice white potatoes, from my garden.

I peeled them, diced them up fairly fine[y (approx 5mm cubes - 1/4 inch for you 'muricans) and then steamed them for about 10 minutes

Steaming keeps them whole, if you boil they may become mushy

I peeled and finely diced an onion (also from the garden) and then softened it in a frying pan with a tablespoon of oil (I used Olive Oil)

I added about 500 grammes (1 pound) of Beef Mince to the pan and broke it up using a wooden spoon.

This was then cooked until all the mince was browned.

At this point I added the seasoning, I used Sea Salt, Ground Black Pepper, Worcestershire Sauce and a few Chilli Flakes

(the meat came from one of our own cows and the chillies were grown in the garden)

By now the potatoes were cooked and added to the pan and thoroughly mixed in, once mixed the heat was turned off

As I said in the intro a "proper" cornish pasty has both sweet and savoury, I had some apples from my orchard that I stewed a couple of weeks ago, so I got some out of the freezer and chopped them up.

I'm far too lazy to make pastry so I bought some shortcrust pastry sheet from the local supermarket.

On the pastry sheet I put a big spoonful of the savoury mix in one corner and a spoon of apple in the opposite.

I then used a beaten egg (from our chickens) and brushed around the outside.

I folded the pastry over the top of the mix and rolled up the edge and corners to make the thick "holding' crust.

The pastry was then brushed with the beaten egg.

I put the pasties in a preheated oven at 275C and cooked for approx 20 minutes, once cooked I put them on a cooling rack, (well actually I ate one while it was still nuclear hot but there you go!)

The transition from the savoury to sweet parts is really pleasant.

So there is my Pi Day entry

Hope you enjoy