I’M PRETTY certain at some point in our lives we have all been guilty of walking past a bakery and being tempted by the lovely smell to pop back in for a Cornish pasty?

For some strange reason the Cornish pasty always reminds me of my childhood holidays down in Devon, picnicking on the sunny beaches, being a real treat!

Well.... I had a few bits and bobs to use up and wanted to share with you a classic Cornish pasty recipe that would be ideal for your end of summer picnics or warming autumn snacks.

The Cornish pasty started life as a working lunch and was the staple diet for the Cornish miners and farmers in the 17th century.

The development of tin and copper mines in Cornwall helped popularise the pasty, especially for miners who worked long hours in terrible conditions and needed a nutritious yet portable, convenient and easy food to eat, and last them throughout the shift.

The distinctive 'D' shape pastry made it easy for them to carry with the crumpled edge (never on top) used as a handle, which was then discarded due to the high levels of arsenic, a highly poisonous substance, in many of the tin mines.

There is much debate about how a Cornish pasty should look and which ingredients and type of pastry should be used. Some old recipes call for half meat and half fruited pasties, with apple for the pudding with a small steam hole at the meat side.

I prefer to use the traditional recipe calling for shortcrust pastry character, encasing beef, potatoes, swede and onions, being well seasoned with salt and white pepper.

The shortcrust pastry is the key for a good pasty, and I recommend using a strong bread flour with butter fat to rub-in. This adds flavour, traditional flaky softness, strength and robustness, to produce a pliable pastry that is fluffy inside and definitely sturdy enough to survive dropping down a mine or two!

Ensure when baking your pasties, that for a golden shell and tender juicy filling you must start with a hot oven. Once the pasties have got that healthy glow, lower the temperature to cook through.

The beef steak must be roughly-cut chunks. The best cut to use is skirt, the underside of the belly of the animal, which has no fat or gristle. This gives excellent flavour and tenderness, which cheap cuts seem to lack, and also cooks in the same amount of time as the raw vegetables.

The vegetables must be lightly seasoned with salt and always white pepper. The swede adds all the sweetness the dish needs.

Potatoes should be firm and waxy rather than floury, so they keep their shape when cooked. The onions add the caramelized goodness that brings everything together, giving the texture of the filling a chunky appearance which will hold together well while it bakes.

Most Cornish folks who you ask will tell you the best pasty they have ever eaten was one made by their mum, and I will definitely second that. I’m wrapping this column up now as I am getting really hungry!