Beef Pasties

 

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!

 

 

Sausage Rolls

I make these sausage rolls for my children’s lunches at school; it makes a change from sandwiches.

First I make some quick flaky pastry by grating frozen butter onto flour and then mixing together with a palate knife.  A little water is added to form a dough.  The pastry is wrapped in cling film and refrigerated for about 1/2 an hour.

Next I roll the pastry into rectangles and place some sausages which I have de-skinned in a line down the middle.  If the sausages are thin I squish two or three together.

Then I brush a little egg yolk along one edge and roll the meat in the pastry making sure the sealed edge ends up underneath.

Finally I brush egg yolk on the top of each long sausage, make slashes in the top for decoration and bake them.