Recipe - Sausage, Bean & Cheese Pasties

I haven't done a recipe in a while so it's time I posted another. I also spied that English Mum was holding another bake-off and this time, you can win a whole fridge freezer. As I need one before our current one dies a death, I thought I'd give it a go.

These pasties are fast becoming a family favourite. What do I mean "becoming"? They already are! Monkey asks for them. They are great food to eat on the run, and work hot or cold. Although they are a bit time-consuming (but not difficult) to make, they can easily be reheated so I tend to make them in advance. And they can be frozen too, which is entirely appropriate given the prize for the bake-off!

Pasties are obviously the original easy to eat anywhere food. These ones are different though - instead of the crust being pastry, it's made from bread dough so really, I guess, they may be technically more like a calzone. But we're not Italian and the filling is definitely British so pasty, it most definitely is. When I first saw the recipe for this, I was intrigued and had to try them out. I'm really glad I did. The result is much lower in fat than a conventional pasty - the original recipe says there are about 350 calories per portion when a standard pasty is more like 500 calories.

This is also quite an economical recipe as none of the ingredients are expensive. Don't get really cheap sausages or they'll just be greasy - I bought some Waitrose essential pork sausages for less than £1 and when cooked, they lost hardly any fat, so they are a decent but inexpensive option. I've tweaked the original recipe somewhat and provide you options for making the dough. In addition, I think the filling only needs one tin of baked beans as I'm always left with quite a lot of filling (or I'm stingy with it but I don't think so) but feel free to add a second tin if you really think it needs it.

Finally, if you wanted to spice these up a bit, I think a dash of Worcester sauce, Tabasco, chilli powder or curry powder would all work well. I reckon also you could vary the cheese for a bit of variety.

These pasties were our tea tonight - Thursday after school is a whirl of activities with Missy Woo having ballet, and Monkey having football so these are great as we can eat in shifts and if I've got my act together, I don't have to do any cooking.

Sausage, Bean & Cheese Pasties
Makes 12

Ingredients

500g/1b 2oz pack bread mix or dough made from 500g/1b 2oz flour
8 sausages or 500g/1lb 2oz sausagemeat
1 420g/15oz can of baked beans
140g/5oz cheddar, grated (we like mature)
1 egg, beaten

1. First, make your dough. Either make up the bread mix according to the packet instructions or use your favourite bread recipe and leave to rise. Alternatively, make the dough in the breadmaker using the dough options. 

2. Whilst that is rising or working in your breadmaker, make your filling. Skin the sausages and roll into about 6 to 8 small meatballs per sausage. Heat a large frying pan and brown the little meatballs, in batches if the pan is too crowded. Drain off any excess fat before returning all of them to then and adding the tin of beans. If you're going to add anything to spice it up, do so now. Stir to combine the filling thoroughly then take the pan off the heat to cool whilst you deal with the dough. 

3. When the dough is ready, heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and grease 2 or 3 large baking sheets well. I find I need to tip the dough out onto a workshop to relax the dough slightly for 10-15 mins before using but you may find different. I also think dough from a breadmaker needs a bit of knocking back as there seem to be lots of big bubbles by this stage. 

4. Divide the dough into 12 pieces. Keep the other pieces of dough covered with a tea towel or oiled cling film whilst you roll each piece out into a circle about 17cm/7 in in diameter. I find this a bit challenging so don't worry too much if they won't roll out to that size - the important thing is that they don't tear. 

5. Fill each circle (I fill as I go, you can roll them all out first if you like) with a scoop of the filling and a scattering of cheese. You'll need to put the filling to one side so that you can make the proper D shape that pasties are, but leaving the edge clear. Fold the rest of the dough over, pressing the edges together to seal and crimp together. I find that rolling the edges round makes the most effective seal. Transfer to the oiled baking sheet. You can keep them covered if you like but I find it makes no difference. 

6. Once all the pasties are made, brush with some beaten egg and place in the oven. Cook for 15-20 minutes until they are looking all golden and have risen nicely. Remove from oven and cool slightly on a wire rack. They can be eaten warm or cold. They also freeze well - cool well and freeze on a covered tray. Transfer to a freezer bag once fully frozen and seal. They defrost overnight in a fridge or 4-5 hours at room temperature. They can be reheated in a hot oven for about 10 minutes until piping hot.

(PS If you don't seal well, the cheese will leak out of crust as shown above!)