Spinach and Thyme Pasties

from River Cottage Veg Everyday
by Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall
 Published by Bloomsbury, 2011

I'm rubbish at pastry. I used to be better, but somewhere along the line I became rubbish. Is it the hot hands thing? Maybe so, though I'm a little sceptical about it. But temperature does seem to matter, and resting the pastry makes a difference too.



 I'd planned to make these on a Friday night, and I'd done the pastry and the filling, but when it came to the moment of putting it all together, I just couldn't be bothered.  I dumped all the stuff in the fridge and left it until Saturday. Then of course, when Saturday came, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get the pastry at the right temperature to roll easily, you know, warm enough to be pliable, but not so warm as to be breakable (I was going to say 'friable' there, does that mean breakable? quick trot over to dictionary... yes it does; but it would be a rather odd sentence, 'pliable but not friable'). Anyway, as it turned out the pastry was the most wonderful forgiving stuff, allowing me to stretch it and shape it with no trouble at all. Hooray! I chicken out slightly after I had it just about right, and I should have made my rectangle slightly larger to accommodate all the filling, but even with some rather bursting at the seams they cooked beautifully.

Look at them, all egg-washed and ready to bake.

And then emerging from the oven, golden and cracked, just spilling their green contents.

We ate them with the baba ganoush I'd made, and tomato salad. They were perfect, though at their best hot, I think.