Cooking on Wood: Leek & Potato Pasty

Pasty, a British classic, was first documented in the 13th century when only the rich upper class was able to enjoy this luxury. The most common fillings back then were rich; beef and venison along with seafood like eels, flavoured with fruits and sauces. It gained popularity in the 17th & 18th centuries when the pastry was adopted by the working class, especially miners. This is the origin of the humble pasty. [1]

In the 10-step recipe below, we will show you how easy it is to create your very own pasty (even your own pastry) and you can either cook it in a pizza oven or in the oven in the house. We chose leek and potato from the garden for the scrumptious filling due to leeks being in season now, but the possibilities are endless if you want to experiment with ingredients in your cupboards.

Here's what you'll need:

Method:

Step 1

Either pre-heat your house oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7 or light the fire in your pizza oven using our Grill & Chill logs and KindleFlamers. Our Grill & Chill logs are split thinner, which helps the fire reach the optimum cooking heat much faster, making it easier to manage the fire. These, with the help of our KindleFlamers, will start the perfect fire, and be sure to cook your pasties perfectly.

Step 2

In a bowl rub the butter into the flour using your fingers until it starts to resemble breadcrumbs.

Step 3

Add in about 10 tablespoons of water to make a firm dough (you might need to add more in order to bind the dough together). Once you have a firm ball, cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes (or more if you take longer making your filling).

Step 4

Prepare and chop all your ingredients used for the filling.

Step 5

 Heat up the oil in a large frying pan and add the chopped leeks and potatoes.

Step 6

Fry for about 5 minutes until golden brown, then crumble in the vegetable stock and add the flour. Fry and mix for about 30 seconds then gradually add the milk. Once all the milk has been added, mix in your grated cheese, thyme, salt and pepper and keep cooking until the potatoes have softened. If the mixture becomes too dry, add some boiling water. You want to end up with a nice thick sauce.

Step 7

Once the potatoes have cooked, taste your filling and further season to taste, then remove from the stove and fill the pastry.

Step 8

Once the filling is made, take the dough out of the fridge and place onto a floured surface. Cut it into 8 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball with your hands. With a rolling pin roll out each ball thinly into a round shape. This will take a bit of effort to start with, but you want your pastry quite thin, like a pancake.

Step 9

Once happy with the thickness, lay your pastry into a baking tray lined with a baking sheet and fill the middle with your leek and potato filling. Be quite generous but leave enough space around the edge (about 1.5cm) to allow for the pastry to fold over.

Step 10

Brush the pastry’s edge with a beaten egg and then fold the edge by pressing the bottom pastry sheet onto the top and achieving an edge such as the photo below. You want to make sure the pastry filling is contained as it will bubble during cooking and if not sealed well the liquid will spill out.

Step 11

Pop it in the pizza oven with our grill and chill logs! This method will take roughly 1 hour in the pizza oven, but be sure to turn it every so often so they don't burn.

Or...

You can bake it in the oven at 220C/fan 200C/gas 7 for 10 minutes, then lower the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 and cook for 45 mins more until golden. 

This recipe will make 8 pasties, but if you don't want to eat them all straight away, these are easy to freeze. Once you have sealed the pasties and brushed them with the beaten egg, put them on a baking tray and straight in the freezer. Once frozen, transfer into a plastic bag or a container for cooking another day. On the day of cooking, simply put back on a baking tray and cook the same way as instructions above. 

References

[1] History of the pasty: https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Cornish-Pasty/