CORNISH PASTY BASICS

Cornish Pasty Pastry Ingredients

You'll need:
4 oz/110g all purpose/plain flour
pinch of salt
2oz/ 55g butter, cubed
2-3 tbsp cold water
Make the Pasty Pastry

To make pastry use all purpose or plain flour, butter a little salt and some cold water. First sieve the flour into a large glass bowl, add the butter and a pinch of salt. Working quickly, rub the butter into the flour until it looks like coarse sand and there are no large lumps of butter left. Then add the water one tablespoon at a time. As soon as the water is absorbed, using your fingers bring the pastry together into a ball.
Refrigerate the Pasty Dough

This now needs to be wrapped in plastic wrap and popped into the refrigerator for 15 minutes or 30 minutes if possible.
Roll Out the Pasties

And now we’ll put the pasties together. Begin by rolling out the pastry into a circle to the size of a tea plate, approximately 6 inches across. Trim off the excess pastry. This is the base for the Cornish pasty.
Cornish Pasty Filling

For the pasty filling:
1/4 cup/50g onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup /110g potato, cut into 1/4 inch /5 mm dice
4oz /110g rump steak, cut into small cubes or Sitakie mushrooms
salt and pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
Cook the Cornish Pasties

Into a glass bowl add the beef (or mushrooms), potato, chopped onion and salt and pepper. Mix these together really well. Lay the filling down the center of the pastry circle. Using a beaten egg and a pastry brush, dampen the edges of the pastry circle. Draw the edges of the pastry together and press well to seal the pasty. Brush all over with beaten egg to create a golden brown pasty when cooked.

Cook in a very hot oven, 425F/220C/Gas 7 for 45 minutes.

Instructions for Making British Cottage Pie

For the first part of our cottage pie I need to make some mashed potatoes so all I've done is cooked the potatoes in some boiling salted water for 20 minutes and then drained them. In the pan that I've already cooked the potatoes in I'm going to add the butter and the milk. Into the melted butter I'm going to put the potatoes back and give them a good mash. They're all nice and light and fluffy I just need to season them with a little salt and pepper and give that a good stir, then keep that to one side while we make the meat sauce.

Additional Instructions for British Cottage Pie

Into the pan I'm going to melt the lard and add the onion and the carrots. Add the finely chopped garlic and this needs about another minute. Into the carrots and onion and garlic mix I'm going to add the minced beef and about a quarter of the beef stock. And then give this a really good stir. I want to brown the meat so I'm just going to turn the heat up a little bit. So the meat's browned all the way through, so I'm now going to add the remaining stock, the parsley and the mushrooms. Give that a stir and we need to season, and then leave this to cook now for about 15 minutes with the lid on.

British Cottage Pie

2 lbs (4 cups chopped peeled potatoes) cook in boiling water for 20 minutes
6 T milk
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
salt and pepper

make mashed potatoes

1/2 tsp lard or dripping to fry onions, mushrooms, carrot, garlic for 15 min


1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrot
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 TLB finely chopped flat leaf parsley
2 cups ground mince beef or substitute shiitake mushrooms
2 cups beef stock
1 cup chopped white mushrooms
1 tsp all-purpose flour
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Good, so the meat sauce has had 15 minutes so all that's left now is to thicken it. I've mashed together the flour and the butter, mix it through the sauce, and give that about 5 minutes to allow it to thicken.

The sauce is lovely and thick now so we just take some generous spoonfuls of potato and place it on the top of the meat sauce to cover the whole dish, and then with a fork just lightly spread the mashed potato and then sprinkle with the cheese.

This now needs to go in the oven at 190 C that's 375 F for about 30 to 35 minutes until it's all bubbly and golden brown on the top.

This looks amazing! All this needs now is some fresh seasonal vegetables or salad and you have supper ready.

Ingredients for Flapjacks

So for a traditional flapjack you need:

6 tablespoons of golden (corn) syrup
200g 2 sticks butter
330g 12 oz or 1 1/2 cup porridge oats
and a pinch of salt

Instructions for Making Flapjacks

So, the first thing we need is the butter and we are going to put it into this saucepan to melt and into there I’m also going to add the golden syrup or corn syrup, as it’s known in the States. And then we’ll stir this until the two are melted together.

Once the butter and the golden syrup are melted together into my porridge oats I’m going to add a pinch of salt and pour the liquid into there. And then stir together. You need to really stir this well to make sure that the butter and the golden syrup really coats the porridge oats.

Oh smells lovely.

So once all that’s mixed together the oats are covered with the golden syrup and butter then pour the mixture into a square cake tin, which has been just lightly greased and I put a piece of baking parchment into the bottom. Then with the back of the spoon with your wooden spoon just gently press the flapjack down to make an even surface.

Additional Instructions for Flapjacks

Once that’s ready this needs to go into the oven at 180°C /350°F for about 20minutes or until it’s golden brown.

So the flapjack’s actually had about 25 minutes in the oven as you can see it’s lovely and golden brown. If you just press it in the centre it’s still a little bit soft but don’t worry about that it actually hardens up as it cools.

Now what I need to do now is to cut the flapjack using a sharp knife. Just cut the flapjack into the squares, like that and then leave it to cool in the tin. Leave it until it’s completely cold and then you’ll be able to take it out .

So there you are delicious, super easy to make traditional British flapjack.

What Are Yorkshire Puddings?

Yorkshire puddings are part of the British national dish of roast beef and Yorkshire puddings. However they are very good with any roast meat and also make a delicious starter dish on their on their own with a little gravy. Many people say it's very difficult to make Yorkshire puddings not so and today I'm going to show you how to make perfect Yorkshire puddings every time.
Supplies Needed to Make Yorkshire Puddings

You don't need much equipment, just:
measuring jug
electric whisk
bowl
sieve
12-hole muffin tin


Yorkshire Puddings Ingredients

And your ingredients:
fresh eggs
all purpose or plain flour
milk
a pinch of salt
some lard
Mix the Yorkshire Puddings Ingredients

Start by measuring your eggs. I'm making Yorkshire puddings for 6 people so I'm using 4 large fresh eggs. And then, measure an equal quantity of milk to egg and an equal quantity of flour. Then take the eggs, add the milk and a pinch of salt. Then whisk together with an electric hand whisk. Then, sift in the flour. With the hand whisk; whisk again to make a creamy smooth batter.
Cool the Puddings Batter

Clean up the bowl and leave the batter to rest for a minimum of 30 minutes preferably a couple of hours in a cool place, but not in the refrigerator. I like to make my Yorkshire puddings using a 12-hole muffin tin.
Cook the Yorkshire Puddings

Turn the oven on to its highest temperature. Then take your muffin tin, you need to add some fat, you can use lard dripping or vegetable oil, I'm using a pea-sized piece of lard if you are using vegetable oil you will need about 1/2 teaspoon.

Place the tray into your hot oven. While waiting for the fat, add 2 tablespoons of cold water to the batter, and then give it a final mix. Finally take the batter and pour it through a sieve into a jug.

The fat is ready when it is slightly smoking (but not burning!). Quickly fill each cup a third with the cold batter you can hear the hot fat sizzling - a very good sign it's at the right temperature, once each cup is filled by a third quickly return the tray to the oven.
Serve the Yorkshire Puddings

Yorkshire puddings are ready after about 20 minutes or when they are golden and well risen. They are best eaten straight from the oven however they are also delicious cold with a little jam or honey. They don't reheat very well so best eat them while they are fresh.