These festively crunchy party snacks always put me in mind of one of my favourite films ‘Abigail’s party’ - a 70s satire on the aspirations and tastes of the new middle class. It is worth a watch if you are in need of a good chuckle, I promise! I am absolutely certain that Alison Steadman’s character, Alice, would have approved of serving something reminiscent of these twists with drinks before dinner. And today, they fit smartly with a modern sensibility of up-cycling, since you can use the leftover pastry from our Flaky Pastry and Rum Roasted Pineapple Delight recipe for them!
-Rachel Finley
For the twists
See flaky pastry recipe under Flaky Pastry and Rum Roasted Pineapple Delight recipe
Cut any leftover flaky pastry into strips, brush with beaten egg & sprinkle with your favourite seeds and some grated cheese. I used linseeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds and some grated goats cheese. Twist and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake at 220C for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Eat as a snack or with the mackerel pate for some crunch.
Our Tudor inspiration:
A meat pie was a huge favourite of the wealthy in Tudor times. Metal baking tins, that we would use today, had not been invented so the pie crust was used to make a sort of casserole and this was known as a ‘coffin’. The coffin would have been highly decorated and eaten in huge quantities at Court & in wealthy households.
This recipe for fine pastry coffins comes from Thomas Dawson’s The Second part of the Good Huswifes Jewell, 1597.
To make fine paste. Take fair flour and wheat, & the yolks of eggs with sweet butter, melted, mixing all these together with your hands, till it be brought to dough pastry. Then make your coffins whether it be for pies or tarts. Then you may put saffron and sugar if you will have a sweet paste, having respect to the true seasoning. Some used to out to their pastry beef or mutton broth, and some cream.
