...time to experiment.

Well like most things,hindsight is 20/20.I decided that after eating a rather over peppered Ginsters Cornish Pasty that I could expand on it and hopefully improve things.
We all have opinions anyway.

After some thought on the matter,running through flavours in my mind of matches that were made long before I walked the planet,I eventually decided on doing some Chicken and mushroom pasties with a twist.

I decided that although Traditional Cornish Pasties had no sauce,the chicken would need something to stop it drying out. The outcome was as follows...a chicken and mushroom pasty with a tarragon flavoured bechamel sauce and here's the recipe I devised along with a picture.I made some small ones especially for my young son.


1 large chicken fillet
A couple of shallots-finely diced
2oz swede-diced
A small potato-diced
3oz finely sliced mushrooms

and for the sauce....
2oz butter
2oz plain flour
¼ pint milk
4-5 tarragon leaves finely chopped
S+P
1 beaten egg


For the pastry I used:
8oz plain flour
4oz butter-diced
1 egg to bind
Pinch of salt

1) Dice the chicken and seal in hot oil and transfer to a bowl with some salt and pepper in.
2) Add the potato,swede,mushroom and onion.
3) Make the bechamel by melting the butter and adding the flour and whisking continuously for a few minutes to cook out the flour.Then add the milk and carry on whisking.
4) The sauce will start to thicken up after a few minutes and at this point add the tarragon.
5) Pour onto the pasty mix and incorporate well.
6) Sieve the flour into a bowl,add the butter and rub in til it looks like breadcrumbs and then add beaten egg slowly.Just add enough to bring the dough together and save the rest for eggwash later.Rest it for ½ hour in the fridge then roll out to 5mm/¼" thick.
7) I used a small plate with a diameter of 8"/20cms.
8) This amount of filling should be enough for 5 pasties.
9)Pile up some filling in the centre of each circle and brush some beaten egg around the edge.
10) Fold over and either press down to seal.If you're more proficient that I you can try and crimp the edges.
11) Eggwash each pasty.
12) Place each pasty on a lightly oiled baking tray and place in a preheated oven for 30/40 minutes.

Enjoy.I did.