Annie Dickinson’s Cornish Pasties

Cornish Pasties are the nation dish of Cornwall in the United Kingdom. They were popular with miners because they were easy to eat whilst having a break from work underground. Cornish miners came to Australia in the 1850’s   during the Gold Rushes and introduce pasties to Australia. Annie Dickinson’s husband, Charles, was a gold miner in Bendigo, Victoria in the 1900s. The family moved to Broken Hill in 1915 and Charles worked as a miner for BHP until the late 1930’s.  Annie often cooked these pasties for her husband to take to work with him. Traditionally the pastry for this tasty treat was made with flour and dripping. You can substitute commercially available shortcrust pastry.

Pastry

800g       Plain flour

500 g      Dripping or butter

1 tsp      Baking powder

Pinch     Salt

2              Egg yolks, beaten with

2 cups   Cold water.

Mix flour baking powder & salt together sift twice into a bowl for mixing. Make a hole in the centre & pour in the water & egg mix. Mix & knead into pliable dough. Set aside.

Filling

1Ikg        Finely chopped lamb or beef. Yous can use mince but traditional pasties use chopped meat.

2              Turnips-finely chopped.

3              Large potatoes, finely chopped

500 g     Pumpkin, finely chopped

2              Large onions, finely chopped

Salt, Pepper & dried Thyme.

Mix chopped ingredients together

Roll pastry into a thin sheet. Cut circles, approximately the diameter of a saucer, from the pastry. Place filling in the centre of the circle. Draw the pastry up across the ingredients & pinch the pastry together across the top. Prick the pastry & wash with an egg & milk mix. Bake in an oven, set to 200-220⁰ C, until the pastry golden brown. Note, traditional pasties are made with raw meat & vegetables.