Leek and 2 Cheese Pasty
By Editor, Christian Warren
Me and my little brother would make these with our Nan – often using leeks from Grandpa’s allotment. Fresh from the oven wrapped in foil they would keep out pockets and hands warm until we were hungry. Nan would of course make the pastry from scratch but quality ready made is pretty good.
Ingredients
2 teaspoon Olive oil
4x medium size leeks using only the while and light green parts
1 clove of garlic
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon plain flour
200ml milk
100g Gruyere cheese
25g Parmesan Cheese
pack of ready made quality short crust pastry
Method
Heat the oven to about 180°C. Heat the oil in a large saucepan add the leeks, garlic, thyme and cook over a medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring often to stop any burning to the pan. Once the vegetables are soft and start to turn golden in color remove the pan from the heat and let the mixture cool. Fold in the flour and season to taste.
Mix together the milk, two eggs and add this to the leek mix in the pan. Fold through the two cheeses and cook over a low heat for about 8 minutes until the mixture thickens.
Cut circle shapes in the pastry using a side plate as a guide. Arrange the mixture in the middle leaving a good 2cm gap on all the edges. Beat the remaining egg and brush the edges of the circles.
Fold the pastry over in half and crimp the edges to make a tight seal. Place on a baking sheet cut a small slit to allow steam to escape the brush pastry with remainder of the beaten egg. Pop into the oven for about 25 minutes.
Best served hot or warm straight from your pocket.
