For the filling:

• a bunch of chard
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 onions, halved and thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 6–8 small courgettes (zucchini), sliced into 1–2cm (½–¾in) rounds
• finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• a large handful of basil, leaves picked and chopped
• a handful of flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped
• 150–200g (5½–7oz) soft goat’s cheese (or feta, if you prefer)
• flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the rough puff pastry:

• 250g (9oz) unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
• 500g (1lb 2oz) plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting
• a good pinch of sea salt
• about 200ml (7fl oz) iced water

To finish:

• 1 egg, well beaten
• 1 teaspoon black onion seeds

Start by making the filling. Strip the chard leaves off the stalks and give everything a wash. Roughly chop the leaves and cut the stalks into 1cm (½in) pieces. Bring a pan of salted water to a boil and add the stalk pieces. After a minute or two, add the leaves and cook for a further 2 minutes. Drain, allow to cool, then squeeze out the excess liquid from the leaves. Set aside.

Set a frying pan over medium heat and add half the extra-virgin olive oil. When it’s hot, add the onion, garlic and a little seasoning. Sizzle the onions and garlic for 5–6 minutes, stirring regularly. Don’t let them catch. Add the courgettes (zucchini), stir well and cook for 15–20 minutes. You want the courgettes to begin to break down a tiny bit and lose some of their excess moisture, so keep stirring them as they cook. When they’re tender but still retaining some shape, take the pan off the heat and stir in the chard, lemon zest, basil and parsley and some more salt and pepper. Allow the mixture to cool, then crumble in the goat’s cheese (or your cheese of choice) and gently mix. Keep the filling cool while you make the pastry.

In a bowl, combine the butter cubes with the flour and salt, then add just enough iced water to bring everything together into a dough full of big pieces of butter. On a well-floured surface, roll out the dough in one direction, away from you, to a rectangle about 1cm (½in) thick. Fold the two short ends into the middle so they overlap. Give the pastry a quarter-turn, and repeat the rolling, folding and turning process three more times (so you’ll have completed this process four times altogether). Wrap the pastry in baking paper and place it in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes (this stops the butter getting sticky). Remove the pastry from the fridge and repeat the rolling, folding and turning process a further four times. Wrap the pastry again and place it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6.

Once the pastry has chilled for a final 30 minutes, roll it out to 4–5mm (⅙–¼in) thick. Use an 18–20cm (7–8in) plate to cut out four neat rounds. Put a quarter of the filling in the lower half of each round, allowing a border of 2cm (¾in) around the edge. Brush the border below the filling with the egg and fold the pastry over to encase the filling. Crimp the edges with your fingers or a fork to make a tight seal.

Brush the tops of the pasties with egg and scatter over the black onion seeds and a pinch of flaky sea salt. Transfer the pasties to a baking sheet lined with baking paper and bake for 45–50 minutes, until golden. Eat just warm or cooled completely.