If you read my blog regularly, or you’ll see from my #instagram I am all about proper decent food but made with convenience. I love to bake and spend hours slaving over a really lovely dinner, however, in reality I, like any of us rarely have spare hours to spare.
This recipe makes enough for 9 pies, using a deep muffin tin.
The key to these pies are two-fold:
1. Keep them small – the beauty of this is the pies will not dry out in the oven. These pies don’t have the gelatine mix poured in as the traditional pies do so in order to keep them moist (worst word!) in the oven it’s better if they’re kept small
2. When buying the pork burgers, buy the best quality from the butcher. When you buy a burger from the butcher, they will normally have added in the spic for you. With a quick sprinkle of salt, pepper and all spice you can have a really flavoured meat mixture in no time. You can use plain minced pork from the butchers but then you’d have to add all the flavourings etc, taking more time and therefore defeating the purpose of making dinner quick and handy. The quality and taste of the burgers will ultimately affect your pies so invest in the best!
Final note – hot water crust pastry is traditionally used to create pork pies. The pastry detailed in this is suitable for savoury pies and can be used where the more difficult hot water crust pastry is normally used. It's still super light and flaky but this pastry can be rolled easily and doesn’t harden as quickly as the hot water crust so it takes the pressure off shaping and getting the lids on in super speedy time!
OK, think that’s it. As per, do let me know how you get on!
Recipe
Pastry
275g strong plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
140g lard
1 beaten egg
About 65ml water
Meat mixture
3 large pork burgers
Grind of salt and pepper
½ teaspoon on all spice
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180oC fan and grease 9 holes in a 12 hole deep muffin pan
2. Place the burgers in a bowl, grind in the salt & pepper and add in the all spice. Using your hands, mix together the meat and spices. Set aside until required.
3. To make the pastry, sieve the flour and salt into a bowl. Cut the lard into small cubes and using your fingertips rub in the lard into the flour.
4. Crack the egg into a small cup and beat lightly with a fork. Keeping 1 tablespoon aside for glazing, mix the rest of the egg with the water and add to the flour. Tip it out onto a lightly floured work surface and using your hands, bring the dough together.
5. (This stage is not essential but it is helpful if you have the time to allow it). Leave dough to rest for as long as you can, up to max 30mins.
6. Take 2/3 of the dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it is 2mm thick. Using a cutter about ¼ inch larger than the size of the holes in the muffin tray (you can cut round a saucer if you don’t have a cutter large enough), cut out 9 circles and work them into holes in the muffin tray.
7. Divide the meat into 9 pieces and, rolling between your hands, create a ball from the meat and place it into the pastry cases.
8. Taking the other 1/3 of the dough, roll it out as above and using a pastry cutter the same size as the holes of the muffin tray. Brush one side of the pie tops with egg wash and place them with the egg washed side face down on top of the pies.
9. Using the back of your thumb, work your way round the pies, pressing the lids right on top of the pork. Make sure to press really well, particularly around the edges to seal them tightly.
10. Brush the tops of the pies with the remaining egg wash and place in the preheated oven for approximately 30 minutes, until the pastry is a lovely golden colour
Enjoy with homemade chips and mushy peas!
