Cold Meat Pasties.

It is hard to believe that out of pretty much nothing and some War time store cupboard essentials, meals can be created that are both filling, warming and easy to prepare. The ration foods are not ‘fashionable’, they do not contain three litres of olive oil or designer leaves strewn over the plate, garnished with pomegranate seeds. They provide wholesome meals to keep the family fed.

These little pasties below are a symbol of these principles and are so versatile that pretty much anything could go in the filling. Consequently, these are a great way to use up leftovers of, well, anything. Due to my aversion to throwing away any kind of food away, I would use them as a food vehicle to use up scraps of anything I had.

Their high flour/oatmeal content means they are filling and the limited fat content in the pastry will not make anyone pile on the pounds. They are also incredibly easy to make from everyday ingredients and luckily do not contain the words ‘mock’ or ‘reconstituted egg’ (although you could use one if you wanted to brush the surface of the pastry).

To make the pastry; mix 175g of self-raising flour and 50g of oatmeal with 50g of fat. Rub the fat into the flour to form a breadcrumb consistency and add milk instead of water to increase the fat content, to form a dough.

Roll the pastry out and cut into 4 rounds (I used a saucer) and place on a greased baking sheet.

For the filling, use 225g of cold meat, 1 one chopped onion, 2 tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of chopped vegetables, 2 tablespoons of Worcester sauce, 2 tablespoons of water. This is the war-time suggestion, however you could put anything you like in these pasties.

Fold the rounds in two and pinch the edges with a fork. You could glaze these with a reconstituted egg and bake at 200C for 20 minutes.