The Very Tasty Cheese and Onion Pasty

The reason that I have never printed a recipe here before is because, like Grace Dent, I believe that food has one purpose: to be eaten – and my repertoire is very narrow. From that footing, I expound the virtues of my very tasty cheese and onion pasty. The following recipe is guaranteed to feed one, hungry human - a symphony of crumbly pastry, semi-sweet onion and tangy cheese. Take five fistfuls of Sainsbury’s bread flour (green bag) and three fistfuls of self-raising flour (blue bag) and mix in a bowl with enough fat (marg, butter or lard) rubbed in to create a breadcrumb-like texture. When done, mix with water until you have a firm mixture that pulls clean from the side of the bowl. The resulting pastry should roll out to an 8-inch diameter round (about the size of a side plate), on a floured surface. Meanwhile, fry a quarter of a diced onion lightly in oil. While the onion is frying, grate a hunk of cheese (Cheddar? Lancashire? ) into a bowl. Individual taste comes into play here. I like a good dollop of cheese, and two fistfuls supply sufficient filling - but you can grate more or less. Spread a layer of the cooked onion onto the pastry, but not to the edges. Place the grated cheese on top and close the margin of uncovered pastry over the mound of filling, to create an attractive pasty. Place the results on a floured baking tin and put into the oven. This size of pasty requires about 20 minutes at 200c to brown and crisp the pastry. At this stage, I find a volcanic lava of cheese bubbling and sizzling from the molten interior, onto the surface – and it renders the pasty all the tastier for that! Serve with a green salad or roast a mix of tomatoes and peppers alongside of it. Since my picture editing skills match my culinary experiese, it will take a little longer to “cook” the image of my very tasty cheese and onion pasty into an eyeful fit for human consumption. In the meantime, take on board the ingredients.