Lamb, mint and summer veg patch pasties

Ingredients

For the pastry:

• 500g strong white bread flour
• 120g butter
• 120g vegetable fat or lard
• ½ a tsp of sea salt
• 170ml cold water

For the filling:

• 300g British lamb steak, coarsely chopped (replace with lamb mince if easier or to hand)
• 150g potatoes (1 medium potato)
• 100g courgette, chopped into small pieces
• 250g summer squash or butternut squash, peeled and chopped
• Half an onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 spring onions, or chives
• 1 tsp of wholegrain mustard
• Salt and pepper
• Fresh mint leaves
• Thyme leaves

1 egg, to brush before baking 50g butter to add when filling

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
2. For the pastry, put the flour and salt into the food processor or a mixing bowl with the butter and vegetable fat, mix together until it looks like breadcrumbs and slowly add the water until it comes together as a dough. Knead by hand for about five minutes or with the dough hook on your mixer, this will give it the stretch and strength it needs to hold the mixture.
3. Wrap tightly in cling film and rest in the fridge for 3-4 hours.
4. Or use 2 packets of ready-made puff pastry.
5. For the filling, chop all the vegetables and potatoes into chunks of roughly the same size.
6. Use a sharp knife or scissors to cut the meat into pieces about 2cms in size.
7. Put the vegetables and the meat into a mixing bowl and add the mustard and herbs, season well with salt and pepper, and stir well so all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
8. Roll out the pastry, use a side plate to cut out circles of dough, lay them on a piece of baking paper.
9. Heap a generous amount of the filling onto one half of each circle of dough, add a dollop of butter before closing.
10. Pull together both sides of the pastry and pinch the pastry to crimp the edge and seal in the filling.
11. Line a flat baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
12. Place the pasties on top and brush well with the beaten egg.
13. Put into the preheated oven and bake for about 40-45 minutes or until golden.
14. If you are using shop-bought pastry, you will need to turn the pasties over after about half an hour to avoid soggy bottoms!