Foodie Thursday

Bedfordshire Clangers 

from Paul Hollywood’s Pies & Puds (Bloomsbury)

These pies have a savoury filling at one end & a sweet one at the other. They used to function as complete, portable meals for farm labourers – the savoury portion would be marked by 3 steam holes, & the sweet with 2, so everyone knew which end to eat first. The name may come from an old Midlands word ‘clanging’, which means ‘eating with great relish’.

Makes 4

Prep time 45 mins

Cooking time 45 mins

Ingredients

For the Suet pastry

300g self-raising flour

1 tsp fine salt

100g beef suet

50g cold unsalted butter, cut into roughly 1cm dice

About 200ml very cold water

1 egg, beaten, to glaze

For the savoury filling

1 tbsp vegetable oil

25g unsalted butter

1 small leek, trimmed, quartered lengthways & thinly sliced

1 large potato, about 250g, peeled & cut into 5mm dice 

175g uncooked gammon, cut into 1cm cubes

1 tsp English mustard

Salt & pepper

For the sweet filling

50g soft brown sugar

1 small cooking apple, about 150g peeled, cored & diced

1 pear, about 150g peeled, cored & diced

50g sultanas

½ tsp ground cinnamon

15g unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

Equipment

Large baking sheet (lipped)

Method

1.

First make the savoury filling.

2.

Heat the oil & butter in a frying pan over a medium heat.

3.

Add the leek & potato & cook gently for about 5 mins, until the leek is soft.

4.

Add the gammon & cook for another 5 mins, until it’s just cooked.

5.

Take off the heat & stir in the mustard & some salt & pepper. Leave to cool.

6.

To make the sweet filling, just mix all the ingredients, except the butter, together in a bowl.

7.

Heat your oven to 220C / gas 7.

8.

Line a large lipped baking sheet with baking parchment.

9.

For the pastry, mix the flour, salt & suet in a bowl.

10.

Add the butter & rub in lightly with your fingertips until the mix resembles breadcrumbs.

11.

Stir in just enough cold water to form a soft dough.

12.

To assemble, lightly dust a work surface with flour & roll out the dough to about 60 x 25cm.

13.

Now cut across into 4 rectangles, about 25 x 15cm.

14.

Trim the edges so they are neat & straight, then roll the trimmings from each portion of dough into a little sausage.

15.

Brush a line of beaten egg across the middle of each piece of pastry & lay the pastry sausage on it.

16.

Pinch to form a ‘dam’ which will keep the fillings separate.

17.

Put one quarter of the savoury filling on one half of each piece of pastry & one quarter of the sweet on the other.

18.

Top the sweet filling with a dot of butter.

19.

Brush the pastry edges with beaten egg.

20.

Fold the pastry over the fillings to form a long sausage roll shape.

21.

Press either side of the central pastry ‘dam’ & press the edges together to seal.

22.

Make 3 diagonal slashes on the savoury ends & 2 on the sweet.

23.

Transfer to the baking sheet, seam down & brush with egg.

24.

Bake for 15 mins, then turn the oven down to 180C / gas 4 & bake for a further 20 mins.

25.

Serve the clangers hot or cold.

Nigel's Top Tips

• Generally, the cooler the pastry the better, making for a light, slightly crumbly pastry, rather than a heavy, greasy one.

• On a hot day it's worth chilling your flour for a little while before commencing.