Cheese and Potato Pasties

I made steak pie last week and sausage rolls on Saturday morning and on both occasions I was left with some scrappy bits of puff pastry from the rolls of ready-made pastry. 

It's always a bit of a dilemma as to what to do with odds and ends like this as I don't want to put them in the bin. Sometimes I just make a few cheese straws and sometimes I make mini cheese and pickle pasties but folding some pastry over a cube of mature Cheddar and a dollop of onion chutney and crimping it shut at the edges.

This time I decided to make some cheese and potato pasties, suitable for making an interesting lunch the next day. Honestly, they couldn't be simpler (or cheaper) and particularly great if you are carb-loading!

Cheese & Potato Pasties (makes 2)

Two pieces of ready rolled puff pastry, measuring about 16 by 8cm each
1 potato, weighing around 150g
Butter
Cubes of Cheddar cheese
2 teaspoons of dried onion
Salt and pepper

Peel and dice the potato then boil for 10 minutes or so until soft enough to mash. Drain and mash with some butter and salt and pepper. Leave to cool. Once cool, add cubes of Cheddar cheese, the dried onion and a little more seasoning then mix it all together with your hands until it moulds. Divide the mixture into two and place them to one end of the pieces of pastry. Use a pastry brush to moisten the edges of the pastry with milk then fold the pastry over the filling and crimp down. Brush with more milk. Can be refrigerated or frozen at this point for future use. To cook, place in an oven at 200°C for 20-25 minutes until risen and golden.