Chicken and Chorizo Pasties

Pastry isn’t something I’ve tackled much in my baking, even before I became gluten free. I’ve always been more interested in cake. My efforts to make gluten free pastry, or even to use the ready-made stuff in the supermarket, haven’t gone very well so far.

I don’t usually like to eat pastry either, if I’m honest. There’s no real reason behind this I suppose, it’s just a matter of taste. The one type that I really like, however, that I’ll never turn down, is a crispy hot-water crust, the type that covers pork pies and pasties. When I went on a solo trip to St Ives a few years ago I was delighted to see that there were loads of gluten-free options, including cream teas and pasties. There’s nothing better to warm you up on a chilly beach than a hot pasty; portable, filling, and versatile.

The traditional filling of a Cornish pasty, with chunks of beef, potato, turnip and onion, is perfectly tasty: I’m not trying to suggest that the recipe can be improved on! This is just another twist on a classic with a tasty filling. I suppose the filling is more like an empanada- versions of this filled pastry exist throughout South America and Europe. In truth, many cultures around the world have their own rough version of this sort of food. If there’s anything the human race can agree on, we love to take tasty things and encase them in dough.

This recipe is a fair bit of work, but I think the result is worth it. The pastry recipe is not entirely my own, I followed Jamie Oliver’s and it worked very nicely. https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/gluten-free-veggie-pasties/  

I also added some fresh thyme leaves to the pastry. I noticed that as the pastry was resting it got a bit crusty on the outside. Don’t worry, this doesn’t make a difference to the finished product. I improvised the filling with ingredients that I like. The pastry is crisp and cheesy, and the filling is tasty, savoury, and a bit spicy. This recipe would make 24 mini pasties, great for picnics or parties, or 12 larger pasties which make for a nice light meal.

Chicken and Chorizo Pasties (GF)

For the Pastry:

600g gluten free plain flour

2 tsp salt

2 tsp xanthan gum

100g butter

2 eggs (and 1 more for the egg wash)

2 tsp thyme

75g cheddar cheese, grated

For the filling:

150g diced cooking chorizo

320g chicken breast

1 green pepper

6 cherry tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato puree

75g frozen peas

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp mixed herbs

1 tsp something spicy (I used a cajun spice mix)

1. To make the pastry, melt the butter in a pan with 260 ml of water. Bring to the boil and leave to cool slightly.
2. Sieve the flour, xanthan gum and salt together into a large bowl. Add two beaten eggs and the thyme and stir to combine. Pour in the butter water mixture and stir again until the dough comes together into a ball. Cover the dough and leave it while you make your filling.
3. First, fry the diced chorizo over a high-medium heat for about five minutes, then place the chorizo on a plate and set it to one side, reserving the red oil in the pan.
4. Chop the chicken into small chunks and fry it in the chorizo oil for about six minutes until cooked through. Place the chicken on a plate and put it to one side. Blot the remaining water and oil out of the frying pan.
5. Dice the green pepper and slice the cherry tomatoes into quarters. Add these to the frying pan with the tomatoes puree, herbs, spices, and a dash of water. Season and cook down for about six minutes until the tomatoes have softened and the water has been evaporated. Add the chicken and chorizo back into the mixture and stir to combine.
6. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and prepare a large tray with baking paper.
7. Separate your dough into even balls (24 for mini pasties, 12 for full size). I sandwiched each dough ball between baking paper before rolling them into circles. The dough should be fairly thin, but not so thin that it will be difficult to form the pastries, about the thickness of a pound coin.
8. Add around two spoonfuls of mixture to the centre of the dough circle (teaspoons for mini pasties, dessert/cereal spoons for full size). Fold the pastry over the filling into a semicircle and press the edges together. You can use a fork to give the edges a nice crimp.
9. Place your pasties on the baking tray and cover them with egg wash and grated cheddar. Bake them for half an hour- they should be crisp and golden. Best eaten warm. SAFETY WARNING: unfortunately, as the meat has already been cooked twice, you should not reheat these pasties once they are cooked.