Celebrity chef Rosemary Shrager shares her recipe for this perfect picnic treat
Pork pie
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
100g onion, finely chopped
300g shoulder of pork, finely chopped
300g belly pork, minced
1tsp allspice
1tsp chopped sage
1tsp chopped thyme
Salt and pepper
1 egg
For the hot crust pastry:
600g plain flour
1tsp salt
140g lard
190g water
For the jelly:
1 pig’s trotter
1 carrot
1 onion
A few bones from the pork
Sprigs of parsley
1tbsp peppercorns
Method:
- First, make the filling for the pies. Soften the onion in a little oil and put into a large mixing bowl. Add the pork, allspice, sage, thyme, salt and pepper, and mix well with your hands.
- To make the pastry, mix the flour with the salt. Put the lard and water into a small saucepan and bring to the boil, before mixing in the fl our with a fork. Knead with your hands until it’s smooth pastry, then divide into two, cut off a piece from each for the top, grease some pie containers, and roll out the pastry approximately 28cm in diameter, with the pastry slightly overhanging. Fill with the meat, leaving 1cm from the top of the edge and packing the pork tightly. From the side with a knife, cut off the pastry, and with the excess, roll out the two pieces of pastry, and make a circle to put on top (13cm round).
- Egg all around the pastry and put on top of the meat. Neatly press all around with your fingers, then again in between. Make a hole in the middle, brush all over with some egg, and put onto a hot baking tray in the oven, preheated to 200C. Bake for 20 minutes, then turn down and bake at 150C for one hour.
- To make the jelly, put the pig’s trotter, carrot, onion, bones, parsley and peppercorns into a pan. Cover with cold water, bring to the boil, and cook until it’s reduced by half. Strain through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan, then reduce down to about 400ml – enough to fill the pies. Season the jelly well. When the pies are cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool down (this will take about 45 minutes).
- Heat the jelly up and either pour with a jug carefully into the hole, or use a funnel and pour to the top. You can leave the jelly out if you want. Allow the pie to get cold completely, so that the jelly sets before cutting into it.
