I was in England for the hols. It rained the whole bloody time. When this happens, don’t complain, just tuck in to something  deeply gratifying to remove that bone dampening discomfort – it really works.  When it rained in NY this weekend, I felt compelled to make that hand pie I ate all too often at school –  Cornish Pasty.  Cornish pasties come from Cornwall and unless you made them in your sweet little cottage over there, to you it’s just called pie my darling. They are made from steak, potatoes and swede (on this side of the pond, the closest you’ll get is rutabaga). These bits and bobs are tucked in to pastry and baked off until golden and delightful.

The dough used for this is a fuss-free short-crust. Just throw all ingredients in to a blender (except for the wet ingredients) and pulse until they look like tiny little pebbles. Then add a small amount of liquid. The dough should shaggily come together, visually you are aiming for the complete opposite to pizza dough. This is the stage where people lose faith in the dough and start adding more liquid or overwork it with their hands and start melting those little pebbles or over work the dough. Don’t DO THAT please. Take the somewhat dry looking lump, split it in to 4 portions and refrigerate immediately. The pay off for your trust is a pastry that allows the butter to melt in the oven and not on the hands, leaving you with the flakiest pastry.

As for the meat – in my house, we’re not big on steak, so instead I cooked off some ground chicken, dusted with flour and a splash of Worcester sauce for a clingy and luminescent gravy. Throw on some waxy potatoes so they hold their shape and tuck all this yumminess in to your short crust.