3 fist-sized potatoes (pick a starchy variety), sliced into thin pieces
125g of beef mince
1 fist-sized onion (diced)
1 carrot, finely sliced
2 small zuchinis (courgettes), finely sliced
1 fist sized tomato
1 clove of garlic, grated/minced/crushed
1 bouquet garni (mine had a lot of sage, thyme and a bay leaf)
1 tsp beef stock powder
1 tsp potato starch
3 sheets of puff pastry
1 egg, whisked (for an egg wash)
Method
1. Put the potatoes into well salted water and boil them. You should boil them fairly vigorously and keep them in the water while you make the rest of the mixture. Preheat an oven to 180C.
2. Fry off the onion in olive oil, they should go a nice translucent and slightly coloured colour. Then add in the zuchini and sweat it down a bit (it should start changing from white to a gentle yellow). Add in the carrot and the bouquet garni and leave it all for a minute or two on a fairly high heat.
3. Put in the garlic in along with the mince and beef stock powder. You should try avoid using actual stock since it will make the mixture too wet. Brown off the meat.
4. Add in the potato starch and stir it through thoroughly. This mixture should get fairly thick and sticky. You want to keep it on the heat until most of the liquid is gone. The drier you can make this mix without burning it the better.
5. Take out the puff pastry and allow it to thaw so it is pliable.
6. Take the potatoes out of the water and dry-mash them. Mix the potato into the meat mix and keep it on a low heat so that it gets quite dry.
7. Put a large spoonful into the middle of the puff pastry sheets and fold it over. You can make it any shape you like, but the 'traditional' pastie shape is a semi circle with a nice pinched-over edge if you're any good at manipulating pastry. Once it has been folded over, wash the whole thing with egg wash and bake in the oven until the pastry goes golden brown and puffed up nicely.
