Spicy Sausage Pasties

Makes 4 pasties

for the pastry:

200g plain flour

55g butter or margarine

55g suet

pinch of salt and pepper

3-4 tbsp cold water

for the filling:

1 tbsp chilli olive oil

½ small onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp sundried tomato paste (or tomato purée or ketchup)

100g tinned pinto beans, drained but not rinsed

200g good quality, skinless pork sausages

25g frozen peas, defrosted

½ tsp chilli powder (or to taste)

salt and pepper

1 egg, beaten

1.  Firstly, make the pastry. Put the flour, butter, suet and salt and pepper into a food processor and pulse until it resembles fine breadcrumbs (or, by hand, put it into a bowl and rub the butter and suet into the flour).

2.  With the processor running, slowly add the water through the funnel, a little at a time, until the mixture just comes together in a ball (or add the water a little at a time into the hand mixing bowl, stirring with a metal knife until the dough binds together).

3.  Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

4.  Now make the filling. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the onion for about 5 minutes until softened, then stir in the tomato paste.

5.  Add the sausages and fry for about 5 minutes, breaking the sausagemeat up with the back of a wooden spoon, until browned and cooked through.

6.  Stir in the chilli powder, peas and pinto beans and season with salt and pepper. Leave to cool.

7.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out the flour until it is the thickness of a £1 coin. Cut out 4 x 16cm discs, using a saucer, re-rolling the trimmings as necessary (I got a snazzy pasty cutter/folder/crimper thingy in the charity shop for about 40p, hence the pasty-making :-)

8.  Pile 1 heaped tablespoon of the sausage mixture into the centre of each disc. Brush the edges with beaten egg, fold over and press down to form a seal. Pinch the edges together and brush all over with beaten egg. Top with a grind of fresh black pepper.

9.  Chill on a lightly floured baking sheet until ready to bake, or for at least 15 minutes.

10.  Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden.

Serve hot or cold.