This tuna plait is another recipe of my mum’s I have stolen, as mentioned in last week’s meal plan. She can’t remember where it came from so I can’t credit it. It must be an old one as most of the measurements are in ounces!
It is a cheap and easy dinner and nice warm or cold. You can make it super easy by buying short crust pastry. We both tend to make our own.
Tuna plait
Ingredients
8oz plain flour
4 oz butter, or half butter and lard, at room temperature and cut into cubes
A pinch of salt
30z grated cheese
2 tbsp. cold water
1 x 175 g tin tuna
1 small onion, finely chopped
Lemon juice
Some beaten egg to glaze
Method
Make the pastry by putting your flour and salt into a large bowl and adding your cubes of fat. Using your fingertips, rub together until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. Add 1 oz of the cheese to the dry mixture before adding the water and mixing with a knife, then your hands to form a dough. Mix the drained tuna, onion, the rest of the grated cheese and add a squeeze of lemon juice.
Roll out your pastry into a rectangle, approximately 12 by 8 inches. Dampen the edges and place the filling along the centre of the pastry. Now you need to make your plait. Make slits with side of your filling at 1 inch intervals and cross them over alternately to form the plait. Seal the top and bottom and brush all over with the beaten egg. Bake at 200 degrees for 25 minutes.
I hope you enjoy this tuna plait recipe. For more of my frugal recipe ideas see here.
Karen says
Hi there, never commented on a blog before, but I know where this recipe comes from as it is a favourite of our family. It is from the Farmhouse Kitchen Cookbook, a great cookbook full of simple old fashioned recipes.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
Thanks Karen! She scribbled it on a piece of paper
Jan says
That’s an old favourite of mine and it’s from the Yorkshire Television programme Farmhouse Kitchen.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
Thanks Jan. Didn’t realise it was famous but it is really delicious so I’m not surprised
Janet Covacivc says
My go to recipe for a cheap filling and tasty meal or snack when my kids were small was very similar to the Tuna Plait. Basically the same pastry, although I didn’t add cheese – my filling was 1lb sausagemeat mixd with a pkt of made up sage and onion stuffing. It was very tasty and filling.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
Sounds yummy!