Cheese Turnovers

6 slices bread

milk

500g shortcrust pastry

1 onion chopped

salt and pepper

250g grated cheese

Method: Soak the bread in enough milk to cover for half an hour. Roll out the pastry and cut into 23cm squares. Place some drained bread on each square, sprinkle with chopped onion and season with salt and pepper then liberally sprinkle with grated cheese. Fold the pastry over, taking each corner and bring to the centre. Press the sides together. Cook in a hot oven for 40 minutes.

Source: Australia's Little Cornwall. Cornish Cook Book (Moonta, S.A.: National Trust of South Australia Moonta Branch, n.d. [post-1998]), p.5.

Star-Gazy Pie

Take as many fresh herrings or mackerel that will fit a moderate size dish. Scale and clean and remove bones. Lay flat and season with salt and pepper and parsley, then roll up neatly. Butter the pie dish and sprinkle with a thick layer of breadcrumbs, then layer fish, breadcrumbs to top of dish. Cover with slices of bacon. Beat six eggs, and add 2 tablespoons tarragon vinegar or a quarter pint of cream. Cover the dish with a shortcrust pastry, bringing the heads of the fish up through slits cut in the pastry. Bake in moderately hot oven 45-60 minutes. When cooked place a sprig of parsley in the mouth of each fish.

Serve with jacket potato.

Source: Australia's Little Cornwall. Cornish Cook Book (Moonta, S.A.: National Trust of South Australia Moonta Branch, n.d. [post-1998]), p.6.

Miner's Pasty

500g shortcrust pastry

250g thinly sliced onion

2 large cooking apples

250g thinly sliced steak

250g thinly sliced potatoes

sugar o[r] 3 tablespoons jam

Method: Roll pastry on floured board to form circle, arrange meat and vegetables at one end, and the apple and sugar at the other end, dividing same with small piece of pastry. Cook in a hot oven for approx. 45 minutes. Mark each end as to what is their content.

Source: Australia's Little Cornwall. Cornish Cook Book (Moonta, S.A.: National Trust of South Australia Moonta Branch, n.d. [post-1998]), p.3.

Surprise Pies

Filling:

150ml chicken stock

23g plain flour, 23g margarine

180g diced cooked chicken

2-3 tablespoons mixed vegetables

salt & pepper

2 hard boiled eggs

milk

Pastry:

240g plain flour

salt

60g margarine

60g lard

cold water to mix

Method: Make a thick sauce using flour, margarine & stock. Add chicken, vegetables & seasonings. Make a basic shortcrust pastry. Line 4-6 individual pie pans. Place half an egg in each. Divide chicken filling evenly between them. Top with pastry lid. Seal well. Make a steam hole in each. Brush with milk. Bake at 200°C for 30 minutes.

Source: American River C.W.A. Recipes for Christmas and Special Occasions (American River C.W.A, 1998), p.36.

In the past weeks, Kangaroo Island and parts of the Adelaide Hills have sustained terrible damage from catastrophic bushfires. How to help:

* KI Mayoral Relief and Recovery Bushfire Fund

* SA State Emergency Relief Fund - Cudlee Creek Fire Appeal

* South Australian Veterinary Emergency Management (SAVEM) Inc.

Creamy Apple Dumplings

Make a short pastry. Peel 4 apples, cut in halves and remove pips and core. Cut a piece of pastry and wrap each half of apple. Place in deep casserole or pie dish (allow for spreading). Sprinkle over 1 cup sugar. Then pour milk over until nearly covered. Bake in moderate oven 1 hour. The dumpling will be surrounded by a creamy sauce. Serve hot with cream.

Source: Mantle of Safety Cookbook 2 (The Port Augusta Women's Air Branch Auxillary of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, c1987), p.112.

Vegetable Lattice Flan

This decorative dish has a wonderful flavour and is cheap and easy to make. It is a meal by itself.

A flan tin is lined with short crust pastry, a mixture of diced vegetables - carrots, onions, parsnip, pe[a]s, triamble, any veg. (500g)

About 750 gm mashed potato and cheese sauce.

Bake the flan, blind, when it is cold fill with the vegetables mixed with cheese sauce. Then pile potato on top and make a pattern on top with a fork. Brush the surface with melted butter.

Bake moderate to hot oven until nicely browned. Cut into wedges & serve.

Source: contributed by Dulcie Stacey in Our Jubilee Year Recipe Book [Ascot Park Uniting Church Friendship Group] (Adelaide, 1986), p.45.

Savoury Slices

1 sheet short crust pastry (10" square) brush with beaten egg and cover with following mixture: -

1 tbspn worcestershire sauce

1 tbspn tomato sauce

100g grated Kraft cheese

2 bacon cubes crushed or bacon bits

Roll up firmly but not too tightly. Brush lightly with egg and cut into thin slices (makes approx 30) and bake in a hot oven 450F for 10-15mins until a nice brown. Serve hot or cold.

Alternative filling: brush pastry with worcestershire sauce and cover thinly with sausage meat (approx 200g) pat evenly with damp hands. These may be cooked in toaster oven. Other savoury rolls can be made with a bread base instead of pastry. Cut a sandwich loaf of bread lengthwise in thin strips, butter and cover with mixture as above. Roll and cut in slices and bake until a nice brown.

Another nice filling: spread bread with butter then vegemite and sliced cheddar cheese, roll and slice and back.

Source: contributed by A. Voigt in Lutheran Jubilee 150 Cook Book 1838-1988 Vol 2 by St. Paul's Congregation, Yorketown (1988), p.8.