Broccoli, Potato And Cheese Pasties

Deliciously savoury parcels that are perfect hot or cold...

Simple fillings make the best pasties in my opinion. That way, you get to appreciate the crispy, buttery pastry casing too. Here I've used a homemade rough puff pastry but a shop bought one will work just as well. (The recipe for the pastry is in the post above this one). Rough puff doesn't get the flaky layers of proper puff pastry, but it's just a little lighter and more buttery than regular shortcrust.

Ingredients

1 large spring onion finely sliced
1 garlic clove finely chopped
1 large potato peeled and sliced roughly
2 cups broccoli florets (I used frozen)
3/4 cup soy milk (or milk of preference)
1 veg stock cube (or 1tbsp powdered veg stock)
​1 cup tightly packed grated cheese of choice
Couple of handfuls of fresh spinach leaves
Salt and Pepper
Extra butter
Extra milk for brushing the pastry

Firstly, sautee your chopped spring onion and garlic in a knob of butter over a low heat for a couple of minutes. Add in your potato, the 3/4 cup of milk and the crumbled stock cube. Stir and cover, then allow to simmer gently for about 10 minutes. After that time, add in your broccoli and again, allow to gently cook away for a few minutes uncovered until the milk has almost cooked away. Season with salt and pepper and allow to cool. Stir through your grated cheese and you're now ready to make the pasties.

Preheat your oven to 180C.

Roll out your pastry if using homemade, or take a sheet of defrosted shop bought. Using a plate for a template, cut circles from the pastry using a knife to cut around the edge of the plate. Lay a layer of spinach leaves on one side of the pastry, leaving a clean edge of a couple of cms to allow for the crimping. The spinach leaves add an extra flavour and also help to stop the pastry on the bottom getting soggy from the filling. Spoon some of your filling onto the spinach and spread gently. Dampen the filling side of the circle edge with cold water and gently bring the opposite side over to meet the dampened edge. Press down the edges and then starting at one end, fold the pastry onto itself in small movements along the edge, pinching and pressing as you go to make a seal. Carry on until you get to the end and tuck the overhang of pastry under itself. Place onto a lined baking tray and brush with milk. You can also sprinkle with sesame seeds if liked. Repeat until all your filling is used (I got four large pasties from the recipe). You can make smaller ones if you prefer.

Now pop them into the oven for approximately 30 minutes until golden brown. The filling is already cooked, so all you're doing is cooking the pastry and reheating the filling. Serve with either a salad or veg and gravy. These would be perfect as picnic food too.