Boxing Day Pasty Recipe

Use up your Christmas leftovers with our Boxing Day pasty recipe. 

Ingredients

For the short crust pastry

1½ lb plain flour

6 oz margarine

6 oz lard
 

For the filling

1lb - 1½ turkey / other Christmas leftover meats

Finely chop your leftover vegetables including onions (chop a new onion if you don't have much left)

Finely chop your leftover roast potatoes

Salt and Pepper

Butter
 

Method (Serves 4)

Rub the fat into the flour with a pinch of salt until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add enough water to the mix to make the pastry pliable but not too wet. Roll out to about 1/8” thick and find a suitable sized plate to cut the pastry into round circles. This amount should give you about 6 round circles depending on the size of the plate you use. Wet the edges of each round circle with water using a pastry brush. Cut up the leftover meat into small pieces and mix in the chopped vegetables and season. Place equal portions onto each pastry circle and pile the potato on top and again season as required. Add a splodge of cranberry sauce, bread sauce or mint sauce (whatever sauce you have leftover). Don’t overfill or the pastry will give way. Put a large knob of butter on top and bring opposite sides of the pasty together and seal, then continue sealing either side before crimping. To crimp start from the right end (if you’re right-handed) and fold over firmly then fold over the next part of the crust continuing round until you reach the other end folding over twice to seal in the filling. You should have a pretty smart looking pasty right now!

For a good finish brush with egg yolk or alternatively milk. Make a small cut or just pierce each pasty on the top beside the crimping and place the pasties on a well-greased baking sheet(s) leaving a little space between each one – use butter, margarine or fat wrappers to place them on.

Put in the oven at 180ºc for about 1 hour. When cooked remove from the oven and leave for a few minutes before removing from the tray and carefully removing from the wrappers (if used) and place on a wire cooling rack. You can cover them with a dampened tea towel until cool.

They should be rested a little before eating and individually wrapped to prevent the pastry from drying out too much if leaving overnight.

Final step:

Pack up your Boxing Day pasty, take the family out for a Boxing Day walk, pick a spot with a remarkable view, devour your pasty!