Ingredients
(serves 1)
For pie filling:
- 350g ham hock
- 5g each bay and thyme
- 5g star anise
- 5g coriander seeds
- 100ml water
- 100g sugar
- 100ml grenadine
- 300g rhubarb
- 50g unsalted butter
- 45g pickled ginger
For pastry:
- 200ml water
- 75g unsalted butter
- 75g lard
- 450g plain flour
- 1tbsp icing sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 1 beaten egg
For garnish:
- 5g red onion and cranberry chutney
- 5g rhubarb jelly
- Watercress
Method
For the pie filling:
- Gently simmer the ham hock in the aromatics (bay and thyme) – we use star anise, coriander seeds and clove – for about four hours until tender
- In a pan, warm through the water, sugar and grenadine
- Peel and cut the rhubarb in to 3cm strips
- Drop into the liquor of water, sugar and grenadine, gently simmer and remove from the heat, allow the rhubarb to sit in the liquor overnight
- Whisk in 50g of unsalted butter in to the savoury gravy, season and strain through a chinois
- Shred the ham hock and to 350g picked meat add 200g of pork sauce
- Mix the chopped pickled ginger through and leave to one side
For hot water pastry:
- Put the water, butter and lard into a saucepan and bring to a gentle heat, simmer until the butter and lard are melted, then bring to a gentle boil
- Place the flour, icing sugar and salt in a large baking bowl, adding the egg
- Pour the water, butter and lard into the bowl with the flour and egg, and a pinch of salt. Mix thoroughly
- Remove the pastry from the bowl and knead on a floured surface to create a silky, smooth dough
To assemble and cook the pies:
- Roll out 2/3 of the dough to about 1cm thick, oil the inside of six quarter-pint pie moulds
- Line the moulds with pastry and leave to cool
- Fill with pork mix and put rhubarb on top
- Roll out the other 1/3 and cut out some lids
- Seal the lids on to the pies and bake for 20 mins at 200°C
- Serve with caramelised red onion and cranberry chutney, rhubarb jelly and watercress
Recipe by Laurence Tottingham, development chef with Oliver Kay Produce www.oliverkayproduce.co.uk, part of the Bidfresh group.
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 4.5 hours (plus overnight marinading)
And to drink?
Beer sommelier John Porter suggests pork pies are a classic pub snack and match beautifully with a well-balanced bitter like Harvey’s Sussex or Hogs Back Brewery’s TEA. The addition of the sharp, fresh rhubarb and the warmth of the pickled ginger also makes these pies a great partner to a robust IPAs such as Thornbridge Jaipur or Fuller’s Bengal Lancer.
