Recipe: Spinach Beet Pasties

Our spinach beet is growing beautifully at the allotment and it’s time to start eating it.  These pasties were inspired by the recipe for Chard Pasties in the Five-a-Day Fruit & Vegetable Cookbook.

450g spinach beet, trimmed and chopped including stalks
2 tbsp butter
2 small or 1 large onion, finely chopped
10 rashers streaky bacon, chopped
80g Gruyere cheese, grated
1/2 to 1 cup fresh brown breadcrumbs
6 tbsp single cream

For the pastry:
2 1/2 cups plain flour
generous 1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
beaten egg, for glazing

To make the pastry, place the flour in a mixing bowl and rub in the butter.  Add the grated cheddar cheese and a little cold water to mix to a soft dough.  Add extra flour if the dough gets to sticky.  Knead gently on a floured surface.  Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.

Place spinach beet chopped leaves and stalks into a heavy-bottomed pan, cover and cook over a low heat for 8 minutes until the stalks are tender and the leaves wilted, shaking the pan occasionally.  Strain, pressing out the excess liquid and place in a mixing bowl to cool.

Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the onion and bacon until the onion is lightly golden and the bacon is browned.

Add the onion and bacon to the spinach beet and stir in the Gruyere, breadcrumbs, cream and seasoning to taste.  Preheat the oven to 220′C/Gas 6.

Divide the pastry into four and roll out into rounds.  Spoon the filling onto the centre of each and dampen the edges with water.  Bring the sides together over the filling and press together to seal.  Brush with beaten egg and then put on a non-stick baking tray.  Bake for about 20 minutes until the pastry is golden.  With the leftover edges of the pastry rounds that I cut out, I rolled two smaller rounds and with a little filling saved, made two mini-pasties for the children.