It's ambitious to make your own pie with hot water crust pastry, but it makes the perfect addition to a lunch platter with cheese, pickle, salad and bread
Ingredients
For the hot water crust pastry
- 300g plain flour
- pinch of sea salt, crushed
- 1 large egg yolk, plus more beaten egg to glaze
- 75g lard
- 75g butter
For the filling
- 500g pork shoulder steak, roughly chopped
- 200g smoked streaky bacon, roughly chopped
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- good grating of nutmeg
- 1 tbsp finely chopped sage leaves
For the jelly
- 1 gelatine leaf
- 500ml pot good-quality chicken stock, reduced to 200ml with 2 bay leaves
To serve
- choice of strong British cheese – cheddar, Stilton, Caerphilly, etc
- choice of pickle – piccalilli, tomato, onions, apple chutney, etc
- simple rustic bread, preferably sourdough
- simple salad with radish, cherry tomatoes or celery
Method
-
Heat oven 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line a 900g loaf tin with baking parchment. For the filling, roughly chop the meat in a food processor – you should have minced pieces and chunkier bits. Alternatively, chop all the meat by hand. Mix through the spices, sage and some seasoning. Chill until needed.
-
Soak the gelatine in cold water for 10 mins until soft while you reheat the stock. Squeeze out excess water from the gelatine and dissolve in the stock. Transfer to a jug and leave to cool at room temperature.
-
For the pastry, mix the flour and salt in a large bowl and place the egg yolk on top. Gently heat the lard, butter and 75ml water in a saucepan. Once boiling, pour into the flour mix, stirring vigorously until well combined. Leave to cool briefly before forming into smooth dough. Cover with cling film.
-
Roll out two-thirds of the pastry to a rough rectangle about 0.5cm thick. Lay the pastry into a 900g loaf tin and press evenly into the sides, making sure you leave some overhanging. You can patch up any holes with spare pastry. Fill with the pork mixture and roll the remaining pastry so that it is large enough to cover the pie. Brush the edges with beaten egg, drape over the lid and crimp to seal. Cut off any excess pastry (this extra can be used to decorate the top). Brush with more egg and make a hole to let steam escape. Bake for 45 mins until golden and cooked through. Leave to cool in the tin before removing. Chill for a few hrs. Pour jelly into the chilled pie through the steam hole using a funnel. Chill in the fridge for a few hrs more (preferably overnight) until the jelly is set.
-
Build your ploughman’s on large plates or wooden boards. Serve the pie cut into slices with your choice of cheese, pickle, bread and a simple salad.