There is something quite enchanting about something hot, wrapped in pastry.
Even if it isn’t home made there always seems to be a homely feeling that pastry brings where ever it goes and whatever it houses.
From chocolatey, nutty swirls, to tarts and the humble sausage roll, pastry makes almost everything a treat you can hold in hand, making it all the more personal and comforting!
Yesterday, though, it was shortcrust pastry on the menu in the form of giant pasties!
Now I warn you before hand, these are not the prettiest pastries in the shop but I still wanted to share them as they were really delicious.
To give an idea of how big “giant” is in my book, these pasties stretch about a dinner plate’s size and the beauty of them is certainly not on the outside, but in the idea of a whole dinner inside a crispy pie-like shell!
You can of course make these into smaller sizes for buffet’s and lunch boxes though cooking times will change!
I was lucky enough to get some wonderful venison and pork sausages from the reduced section in a supermarket but any good quality sausage will be lovely.
Pepper’s Giant Venison & Pork Pastys
Serves 2
Ingredients
350g venison & pork sausage or any good sausage
Quarter of a Bramley apple
Half a red onion
1 tablespoon Jack Daniel’s barbecue sauce
400g shortcrust pastry, brought or home made
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
60g butter
Method
Preheat the oven to 180oc.
Cut up the onion into a small dice and the apple into small chunks, set aside.
Squeeze or cut the sausage meat out of it’s casing, into a bowl.
Heat a pot with vegetable oil until shimmering then add in onion and apple.
Sauté for a few minutes until soft and fried.
Place in your sausage meat and let it cook and brown briefly until the fat and liquid are released, adding in the barbecue sauce to create a gravy.
Transfer the mix to a bowl and let it cool fully.
Meanwhile, roll out your shortcrust pastry to a square 1 cm thick and cut into two equal pieces.
Microwave the butter until just melted and set aside.
When the filling has cooled fully, place half of the mix on one side of each pastry rectangle, leaving a 1 inch edge all around.
Using a pastry brush, paint the melted butter around the edges and fold the empty side of the pastry over the mixture.
Fold the pastry edges down around the mix in any fashion you wish and transfer to a baking tray.
Brush the melted butter over the tops of each pastry and place in the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown!
Serve as is, warm or cold!
