You’ll find oggie or oggy pasties all around Cornwall and parts of Wales. Essentially, they’re the OG pasty – designed so that the hard edges of the crust can be grasped with grubby hands (maybe not today, so much), the filling and inner part of the pastry devoured, and the outer part discarded.
You’ll see these filled with beef, but we rather like the Welsh take, with tender lamb and leek. It’s brilliant picnic fodder, or great for dinner in a pool of gravy, with mash and seasonal veg.
Ingredients (makes 4 large or 8 small)
For the pastry:
- 200g chilled, diced unsalted butter
- 400g plain flour
- 2 medium eggs
- Large pinch sea salt
- Ice cold water
For the filling:
- 400g high-quality lamb – ideally neck, fillet or leg
- 1 small to medium leek
- 1 medium potato
- 1/3 swede
- Seasoning
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- Oil or lard for cooking
To finish:
- 1 beaten egg
Method
1. Start with your filling. Cut the lamb and potato into tiny pieces – less than 1cm in size. Very very thinly slice the leek. Cut the swede into 1/2cm pieces. Toss the vegetables and lamb together with the flour and around 1 tsp each of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside.
2. For the pastry, blitz the butter and flour in a food processor until you have breadcrumbs. Add the eggs, and 2-3 tbsp of ice-cold water to bring it together into a dough.
3. Wrap and chill for 20-30 minutes. Set the oven to 200C and line a large baking sheet. Roll the dough to around the thickness of a £1 coin and use a small side plate to cut out four circles.
4. Split the filling into four equal amounts and spoon into one side of each circle, leaving a border of around 1cm at the edge. Brush the edge with the beaten egg and lift over the unfilled side of the pasty, pressing to seal. Crimp the edges.
5. You might be tempted to poke a hole in the top (as is often the case with pies) but don’t. Leave your pastry whole, so all the steam can gather up inside, cooking the filling thoroughly. Brush the tops with the remainder of the egg.
6. Bake for 15 minutes, then drop the oven temperature to 180C and cook for a further 35-40 minutes. These are really good eaten warm (not hot).
