Pork Pie with Apple in Shortcrust Pastry

Serves: Makes six small pies

Prep Time: 40 Minutes + waiting

Cook Time: 30 Minutes

Ready In: 1 hr 10 mins
+ waiting

Ingredients

14 oz - Lean pork meat

1 oz - Butter

4 oz - Lardons

1 clove - Garlic

1 medium-sized - Onion

½ cup - Dry cider

2 - Apples

2 level tablespoons - Old Fashioned Dijon Mustard (with seeds)

1-2 tablespoons - Plain flour

2 packets - Ready-made shortcrust pastry

1 - Egg

  - Salt & Freshly-ground black pepper

Directions

  1. Finely chop the pork using a knife (or use a grinder with a coarse mesh). Peel and crush the garlic. Peel and finely chop the onion. Peel the apples, core them, and cut them into small pieces no bigger than 5mm (¼ inch)
  2. Melt the butter in a heavy pan. Add the lardons and cook on a high heat for two minutes. Add the garlic and onion and cook on a medium heat for five minutes, stirring regularly.
  3. Add the chopped (ground) pork and the cider. Leave to cook for ten minutes, stirring regularly. Remove from the heat and add the apples and the mustard. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper then sprinkle with enough flour to absorb the juices. Stir and leave to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  4. While the mixture is cooling, prepare the pie casings. Roll out the pastry and line six muffin / cup cake moulds. The pastry should overlap the moulds by about 5mm all round to allow for the pies to be sealed. Fill the moulds with the cool mixture and seal each top with a disc of pastry.
  5. To seal well and create some good-looking pies, separate an egg yolk and beat with a fork. Use this to seal between the pie base and the tops. Press down around the edges with the back of the fork, then make a small cross on the top of each pie to let any steam escape. Use the rest of the beaten egg yolk to coat the tops of the pies for a golden finish.
  6. Bake in a preheated moderately hot oven (Mk 6 - 400°F - 200°C) for 20 minutes then reduce the heat to moderate (Mk 4 - 350°F - 180°C) for a further 20 minutes.
  7. Your delicious pies are ready but are best eaten at ambient room temperature or just warm.