Janette Eathorne's cornish pasty certainly impressed Gino on There's No Taste Like Home - why not try it yourself? Catch the show every weekday at 4pm on ITV1
Ingredients
Before you start...
You will need to leave the pasty for 24 hours before serving.
For the pastry:
- 800 g28¼ oz good quality plain flour
- 159 g5½ oz margarine
- 200 g7 oz pure lard, room temperature
- 1 tsp common salt
- Cold water
For the filling:
- 4 peeled potatoes (approx 100g each)
- 4 slices yellow swede (approx 50g each slice)
- 2 medium sized white firm onions (approx 100 g each)
- 600 g21¼ oz best beef skirt, thick end if possible.
- 2 tsp ground black pepper or white if preferred
- 3 tsp common salt
- 100 g3½ oz Cornish butter (chilled not soft)
- 1 large free range egg (beaten)
- 100 g3½ oz flour for rolling pastry
For the salad:
- 16 cherry tomatoes
- 2 medium sized firm red onions
- 1 stick celery
- 360 g12¾ oz crisp and sweet lettuce leaves, some each of Lambs lettuce, Frisee and Radicchio.
- 1 cucumber
- 8 radishes
For the salad dressing:
- 4 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2x 15 ml½ fl oz Cornish honey
- 80 ml2¾ fl oz fresh lemon juice
- 250 ml8¾ fl oz rapeseed oil
- ½ tsp table salt
Method: How to make Great Granny Catherine’s Cornish pasty
Heat the oven to 200C.
For the pastry:
Sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the lard and the margarine and rub with fingertips to form a crumb-like mix and sprinkle in enough water to mix to smooth to a firm dough.
Remove the pastry from the bowl - it should leave the bowl clean. Flour the work surface and give the pastry a gentle kneading.
Place the pastry in a plastic bag and put in the fridge. Leave the pastry for 24 hours if possible as it makes better pasties the longer it is left to rest.
Next prepare the vegetables by peeling and place the peeled potatoes, turnip, and onions in separate bowls of water.
Cut the beef into small pieces and weigh in to four lots of 150g piles.
Flour your working surface.
Weigh your pastry and divide into four.
Roll out your pastry and cut to a 22 centimetre size.
Lay half of the pastry across the rolling pin to form a half moon shape.
Thinly slice the turnip and place a layer on one half of the pastry then thinly slice some potato and lay on the turnip. Lightly season and slice some onion on top then add more potato in layers.
Season again and add more onion, after about four layers check that the pasty will close. Then cover the potatoes with the beef putting each piece on separately with the remaining onion, lightly season and dot with the butter.
Close the lid of the pasty making sure that both ends meet, press together and beginning at the right hand side begin to crimp. Make sure that the crimping is evenly turned.
Place on baking tray and cut one small slit in the centre of the pasty.
Wash the pasty with the beaten egg.
Place it in a hot oven for 30 minutes then reduce heat to 150C for remainder of hour. Check on the pasties to make sure they are cooking evenly.
Change shelves if necessary to ensure even cooking.
Wash the lettuce and all salad ingredients and dry.
Slice the cucumber and radish and celery into even slices.
Cut the red onion into circles and split into rounds.
Leave tomatoes whole.
Arrange on one side of plates.
Put all the ingredients for the dressing, mustard, oil, honey, lemon juice and salt into a large jam jar, screw on the lid tightly and shake like mad to mix! Place in the fridge.
Take pasties from oven and put on plate with salad and serve immediately.
