Pastry for Fi

I was chatting with my friend Fi a few weeks back and as women do, we were talking about cooking. Specifically about good pastry recipes. Now that I have a food processor, the world of pastry dough is my oyster! There is nothing you can't do when you have a food processor, I discovered.

So Fi, here is a great recipe for shortcrust pastry. I made this last night for a chicken pie, and have used it for little tarts and it has worked well for both. It comes out light and a perfect balance of soft but just the right amount of crispy.

Pastry

1 2/3 cups plain flour
125g butter
2 eggs

1. Place the flour & butter into the food process and blend until there are no lumps.
2. Add the two eggs and blend until it comes together. If it doesn't, you may need to add 1-2 tablespoons of water....just until it comes together into a ball.
3. Cover and set aside in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

If you don't have a food processor, rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips. Then add the eggs and mix well. You'll probably need to knead it until it becomes smooth. Then cover and refrigerate.

I rolled this out, put it into my pie dish with some overhanging the edge, because it always shrinks. Then I pricked the base and baked it in a hot oven for 10 minutes. I filled the shell & topped with another piece of pastry I'd rolled out (there's enough in this recipe for a top & bottom) and put it in the oven at about 200C for 30 minutes. Perfect.

If you want to make tarts, you do the same in smaller tins ~ like a muffin tin, for example and bake for about 10-15 minutes, until they are just starting to go golden. Then you can fill them with any kind of prepared filling you like. Hot or cold.