CARIBBEAN "MARATHON" PATTIES

This lot did sooooo well last Sunday!!!
They've trained super hard over the past few months preparing for the challenge of the year: the Royal Parks Half Marathon.
While I decided a long time ago that this mad race wasn't for me, I was still surrounded by the "marathon-racing-fever". My working days were filled with stories about running, running gear, energy gels, running shoes, diets and countdowns to the half marathon for the past few months. And although I am glad all this talk is over I am also so very proud of my work mates. Between them they managed to raise over £2,500 for the Alzheimer's Society and the National Autistic Society, which on top of all the training and pain is such an incredible achievement in itself. There's still plenty of time to sponsor Team WTF and support their amazing charities.
Neil – Alzheimer’s Society
http://www.justgiving.com/Neil-Felton
Alice + Alex, Ant and Mike – National Autistic Society
http://www.justgiving.com/alicefletcher
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/anthonyblack
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/supamike08

You can read their view on the whole experience here.

Mat and I went to meet them, spur them on and to celebrate their great achievement down the pub afterwards. It truly was an afternoon to be remembered.
And because I couldn't leave them to go hungry after 13 miles of hard work, we made some protein and spice filled Caribbean Patties, which went down a treat. I've never made patties or pasties or anything like that before and am pleased to say: these are super easy and the perfect picnic, party or post half-marathon snack.

Of course you can scrap the turmeric in the pastry and fill them with anything you like, even a sweet filling would work beautifully.

So here it goes.

MAKES 15
PREPARATION 5mins
COOKS 1hr
................... 

INGREDIENTS

• 500g plain flour
• 250g frozen butter (grated or shredded in your food processor)
• glass of refrigerated water (you might not need all of it)
• 2tsp turmeric

• 500g minced beef
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 1 stick of celery, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 5cm piece of ginger, minced
• 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
• 3 tsps curry powder (we used Dunn's River Hot Caribbean Curry Powder)
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 3 small tomatoes, cut into small cubes
• 100g frozen peas
• 6 tbsp breadcrumbs
• 200ml water
• 2 beef stock cube
• 1-2 scotch bonnets, finely chopped
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

PREPARATION METHOD

1. Sieve the flour into a large bowl and mix in the salt and turmeric. Grate the frozen butter into the flour and crumble with your fingers. Slowly add the cold water bit by bit and knead to make a dough (until you have a smooth texture). Set aside.
2. Heat a bit of oil in a pot. Add the onions, garlic and ginger and cook for a couple of minutes until they start to soften. Then add the mince. Fry until the mince is brown, then add the curry powder, paprika, salt, black pepper and scotch and cook for another 5 minutes. 
3. Now add the tomatoes and cook until they start to soften. Stir in the breadcrumbs and wait until all the liquid has been absorbed. 
4. Boil 200ml of water and dissolve the stock cubes in it. Add to your meat mix and leave to simmer for half an hour. In the last 5 minutes add the frozen peas. You might have to add a little more water but should end up with a thick stew like consistency. Set aside and leave to cool.
5. Pre-heat your oven to 180˚C.
6. Cut your pastry ball into half and roll out on a floured surface (your pastry should be approximately 3mm thick). Use a small saucer, place on the dough and cut around to create circular shapes. Repeat with the second half of the dough ball.
7. Once you've cut out all the pastry, spoon 1-2 tsp of mince mixture onto one half of your pastry discs. Fold the other half over (creating a semi-circle). Brush the inner edge with a little of the beaten egg (don't use too much) and then crimp using a fork. Make sure the ends are properly sealed, otherwise your filling will seep out. 
8. Repeat until all your patties are formed, then brush all of them with a little of the beaten egg.
9. Place on a large baking tray (you might have to use two) and bake in the pre-heated oven for 20-30 minutes until the patties are golden but not brown.
10. Leave to cool slightly and devour with some ice cold beer.

Enjoy!