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Pork Pies with Cider and Apples
There is something profoundly satisfying in producing home-made pies. Humble, hearty, heartwarming, and a whole slew of other charming adjectives come to mind. Especially in this case, when the end result belies the amount of effort that went into making them. I thought these golden little poppets looked oh-so-pretty, and yet they were assembled in a jiffy and yielded a smug 8/10 from Rob in the taste-test.
Ingredients:
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion (I used red); roughly chopped
- 3-4 leeks; roughly chopped
- 1 clove garlic; chopped
- 2 pork lion chops, rind and fat removed and roughly chopped
- 2 rashers bacon
- 100ml cider
- 1 parsnip (or small sweet potato); peeled and sliced
- 1 large / 2 small apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
- 1 level teaspoon dried tarragon (or sage)
- 3-4 Tbsp cream
- S + P to taste
- 1 roll ready-made puff pastry, thawed
- 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
Instructions:
- Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized pot, fry the onion and leeks for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and fry for another minute. Add in the pork pieces and the bacon and fry for 3-4 minutes until golden brown.
- Pour in the cider and add the parsnip and apples. Simmer gently for about 7 minutes. Add in the tarragon, cream and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for a further 2-3 minutes then remove and set aside.
- Meanwhile, pre-heat your oven to 180C. Divide the pork mixture between 4 ramekins, or one medium sized oven-proof dish.
- Roll out the pastry, prick haphazardly with a fork and top each of the ramekins/your ovenproof dish with a round of pastry and brush with egg yolk. Push down the edges of the pastry with a fork.
- Just before you are ready to eat, bake the pies until the pastry is puffy and golden.
- * I served these with peas and a baked sweet potato for Rob. * If you are planning on having people round, you could easily make these a day or two in advance, leaving out step 5 above, and then just bake until the pastry is golden before serving. * You could swop in chicken for pork and it would also be delicious.
These constituents are adorable!,
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