Vegetarian Cornish Pasties

Wikipedia states "Side-crimped pasties gave rise to the suggestion that the miner might have eaten the pasty holding the thick edge of pastry, which was later discarded, thereby ensuring that his dirty fingers (possibly including traces of arsenic) did not touch food or his mouth".


I made these for our Jubilee picnic and they were really tasty. They are great for picnic's, lunch or a quick snack. These pasties are filled with cheese, potato and Marmite which is a match made in heaven!


Ingredients:

• 500g potato, grated
• 200g mature grated cheddar
• 100g breadcrumbs
• 1 bunch of thinly sliced spring onions
• 2 eggs
• fresh chopped herbs
• 500g short crust pastry
• 2 tbsp Marmite

Recipe:

1. Mix the potato, cheese, breadcrumbs, spring onions and 1 egg in a bowl.Sprinkle over salt and pepper to taste and add in some fresh chopped herbs (use any you have, I used chives and parsley) and mix again.
2. roll out the pastry so it is just slightly thicker than a pound coin (3.5 mm). Cut the pastry into circles using a 16-17cm round plate as a template, you will probably have to re-roll the pastry a few times.
3. Warm the Marmite in a small pan with a splash of water so it is runny. Brush the pastry with the Marmite leaving a 2-3cm boarder.
4. Divide the fillings between the middles of each circles, then beat the left over egg and brush around the boarder of the pastry. Bring up the 2 sides and crimp - if you don't know how to just watch this video  http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/techniques/crimping_pasty .
5.  If you want to freeze the pastry to cook later just pop them on a tray in the freezer until hard, then put into a freezer bag until required.
6. Warm the over to 160°C and brush the pasties all over the beaten egg. Cook for 50 mins - 1 hour until golden brown.
7. Eat warm with brown sauce and lots of salad (or what ever you fancy!).

Coronation chicken sandwich

I love coronation chicken sandwiches so I had to make these for the Queens diamond jubilee picnic me and my family had! Perfect for lunch, in a picnic or no bread with lots of salad.

Ingredients:

• Poached chicken - 2 legs and 2 breasts (see my recipe for poaching) or any left over cooked chicken you have cut into chunks
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons Greek yoghurt
• 3 tablespoons mango chutney (to taste)
• 3 teaspoons mild curry powder
• Small bunch of coriander chopped
• Crusty bread

Serves 4 people

Recipe:

1.  Add the chicken, mayonnaise, yoghurt, and mango chutney to a mixing bowl and mix gently. Add the curry powder a little at a time to taste, then add the coriander. Give it one final mix and make into sandwiches.
2. There ready to eat! You can add in dried apricots and raisins if desired, I like my sandwiches with crisp lettice inside.

How to poach chicken

For my coronation chicken I wanted to poach the chicken, I found it quite difficult to find a recipe on the internet after trying it out I thought it would be a good idea to add it to my blog to anyone who also wanted to try it. 

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts and 2 legs
• 1 medium  onion, cut into quarters
• 4 small garlic cloves peeled
• 1 tbsp salt
• 6 whole black peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf (optional)

Recipe:

1. Add all of the ingredients to a heavy bottomed pan and bring to the boil.
2. Cook for 20 minutes then remove the chicken breasts and cook for a further 10  minutes.
3. Remove from the heat and slice the chicken ready for serving - or set aside for my coronation chicken recipe coming soon!

To make stock from the left over water and bones put the pan back on a low heat for 1-2 hours until it smells divine (I put mine in the slow cooker over night on a medium heat).