from www.tinnedtomatoes.com
Have you heard of them ?
No? I'd never heard of them before last week. I've been following the Great British Bake Off (did you see my roast vegetable, pasta and cream cheese pizza for Italian week and my dark chocolate magic pudding for pudding week?) and they tie in with this week's theme.
At the end of each week the next week's challenge is previewed. This week the theme is forgotten bakes or shall we say old fashioned bakes. like these Bedfordshire clangers.
What are Bedfordshire Clangers?
They were made for farm labourers. The suet pastry was steamed and was just a hard casing to keep their lunch contained and would protect the filling from their dirty hands. The author H.E. Bates described the clanger as «Hard as a hog's back, harder 'n prison bread».
As time went by these were baked instead of steamed and the pastry was eaten too. Until today when they resemble fat flaky pastries with that savoury filling at one end and sweet at the other.
Bedfordshire clangers are still baked in a wee bakery in Bedford called Gunns Bakery, where you can find clangers for meat eaters and vegetarians in a range of flavours.
Vegan Shortcrust Pastry
I decided to adapt these clangers and make them vegan. I made a flaky shortcrust pastry using Trex vegetable fat https://familybaking.co.uk/.
I know you are speechless that I made my own pastry aren't you? As you know I pretty much always use ready made pastry, but this pastry is quick and easy. It only takes 15 to 20 minutes and that includes chilling time. A fabulous pastry!
Trex in Pastry
I used Trex to make my pastry super light and flaky. Since I started using Trex so many people have told me how good it is in pastry and that it makes it super light and flaky. So I had to try making my own this time around.
They were right, I was really impressed and it doesn't hurt that it's lower in saturated fat than butter (you can use 20% less, they have a little calculator to work it out on the Trex website) and dairy free.
If you are looking for more vegetarian or vegan pastry recipes, check out my post 25 Awesome Puff Pastry Recipes for Vegans.
Clanger Filling
I gave mine a Scottish twist and filled three quarters of my clangers with vegetarian haggis and mustard. I broke up the haggis in a bowl and added extra spices to give it a bit more oomph. I spread one end with mustard and topped with the haggis, then spread the other end with apricot jam and topped it with lightly cooked apple. They were, really really good! I urge you to try them.
What is vegetarian haggis?
Just in case you haven't heard or vegetarian haggis or haven't tried it before I think I should explain. Haggis is a Scottish food usually made from unspeakable parts of a sheep, so we will skip right past that. The vegetarian haggis is a delicious blend of finely chopped cooked root vegetables, lentils, spices, oats and seeds. It comes in a big fat sausage covered in a plastic coating and is ready to use in so many dishes. I used it in my clangers, but you can also make pasties filled with haggis, mashed potato and baked beans with it, a delicious lentil nut loaf, instant burgers (the best my husband has ever tasted), beer battered haggis balls with a tempting spiced and super crispy batter, vegetarian scotch eggs, you can fill a toastie with it, adding some caramelised onion chutney or even heap it onto a baked potato.
The two main brands who make veggie haggis here in Scotland are MacSween and Simon Howie, but you can make your own too by following this recipe for vegetarian haggis by Green Gourmet Giraffe.
Yield: 4 Large ClangersAuthor: Jacqueline Meldrum
Veggie Haggis & Apple Bedfordshire Clangers
A forgotten bake from Bedfordshire called the Bedfordshire Clanger. It's a flaky pastry bake that looks like a fat sausage roll. Once end contains a savoury filling and the other a sweet filling, so main course and dessert in one pastry. This clanger is vegan and filled with a veggie haggis and mustard at one end and apricot jam and apples at the other.
PREP TIME: 30 MINS
COOK TIME: 20 MINS
TOTAL TIME: 50 MINS
INGREDIENTS
225g plain flour
a generous pinch of salt
85g Trex vegetable fat
4-5 tbsp cold water
454g vegetarian haggis
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cumin
a good grinding of black pepper
4 heaped tsp wholegrain mustard
2 Granny Smith or other crisp green apples, finely chopped
1 tbsp caster sugar
4 tsp apricot jam
1 tbsp dairy free spread, melted
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C /gas 5.
- Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl, add the salt and blobs of the Trex. Yes that is a technical term.
- Use your fingertips to rub together the flour and Trex until it resembles breadcrumbs.
- Pour in 4 tbsp of chilled water and cut through it with a knife until it starts to come together. Add another tbsp water if you think it needs it, then bring it together with your hands. Don't knead it or you will make it tough. Wrap it in clingfilm and pop it in the fridge while you prepare the fillings.
- Cook your apples in a small pan with the sugar for a few minutes until they have started to soften.
- Empty the haggis into a clean bowl and break it up with a knife, add the spices and pepper and mix through.
- Take your pastry out of the fridge and divide it into four. Shape piece of pastry into a sausage shape then roll into a long fat rectangle. Cut a strip of pastry from the end and make a wee divider wall with it 3/4 ways up your pastry. Spread the centre of the long section with mustard and the smaller section with jam (at either side of the divide). Don't take it to the edges, leave a border. Top the mustard with the haggis and the jam with the apple, not too much though. You need to be able to wrap the pastry around the filling.
- Wet the edges of the pastry with water then roll the pastry over the filling and keep rolling until you have a sausage roll shape. Place the fold underneath.
- Pierce the pastry with the tip of the knife to let the steam out and make a little mark or pastry shape to show where the sweet end is. I made little hearts.
- Place the clangers on a floured baking tray and brush with melted dairy free spread.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and crisp.
Enjoy!
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