When I was clearing out the freezer I found a joint of beef for slow roasting or braising which had been there for at least 3 years! I decided to make it into a filling for some pasties so I braised it in some water with celery, onion and carrot until it was very tender and flaking apart. I then took the beef out of the stock, skimmed off the fat and liquidized the stock and vegetables. The beef was chopped into small chunks. I made a roux with butter and flour then used the stock to make a sauce, stirred in the beef and left it to cool.
I then made some quick flaky pastry (which I also use for sausage rolls) and used a saucer to cut out fairly large circles . On these a placed a blob of the cold beef mixture (which was quite thick but that was how I wanted it so they would be easy to eat) and brushed beaten egg around the edge.
I folded the pastry in half, pressed around the edges with a fork, brushed the top with beaten egg yolk and made a little steam hole and baked them in the oven.
Some of them cracked a little during cooking. The pastry was probably too thin but I was trying to make it as thin as possible so they are a bit healthier!
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