FLOWER POT KITCHEN: FRENCH RAISED HOT WATER CRUST GAME AND PORK PIE

26 Dec 2012

FRENCH RAISED HOT WATER CRUST GAME AND PORK PIE

Bringing the lard and butter to a boil ready to make the hot water crust pastry

Hot water crust pastry

Hot water crust pastry lined in the French raised pie tin

Hand diced pork, rabbit, pheasant, venison and pigeon, with a minced belly pork and streaky bacon force meat stuffing with sage and thyme herbs and seasoning

Glazed and ready for the oven

Glorious raised pie Christmas gift for my neighbours

INGREDIENTS

GAME PORK PIE FILLING

500g diced pork shoulder

250g belly pork minced

125g streaky bacon minced

300g mixed game breasts diced

4 sprigs of thyme chopped

8 sage leaves fine chopped

1 lrg pinch salt

1 lrg pinch white &black pepper

1 pinch cayenne pepper

1 small pinch mace

HOT WATER CRUST PASTRY

100g lard

110g butter

200ml water

550ml plain flour

1 egg beaten

1 lrg pinch sea salt

Make the hot water crust pastry first, place the lard, butter and water in a saucepan and bring to just a simmer, place the flour and salt in a bowl, mix and then add the beaten egg, cut into the flour with a knife, make a well in the centre and then pour in the hot melted butter and lard mixture. Bring together with a spoon and then using your hands gentle knead the dough to form a ball. Place in clingfilm, flatten and then place in the fridge for 1 hour to chill.

For the game filling, mix the pork shoulder, game, belly and bacon mince together, add the thyme, sage, pepper's, cayenne, salt and mace and mix in evenly.

Roll out the 2/3 of the chilled pastry to at least a one pound coin thickness and line the game pie tin, trim off the excess. With the left over pastry, roll out and place the base of the tin to cut the top for the pie, with the left overs cut out leaves for the decoration for the top of the pie.

Place the game pork pie filling in to the pie tin and press down firmly into all the cavities of the pie tin. Egg wash the top edges and then place the pastry lid on to the top edge of the pie, crimp the edges together and then egg wash the top, place the leave in a pretty pattern in the centre of the pie and make a well in the centre of the leaves and then brush with egg wash.

Place in the oven at 180m degrees for 90 - 120 minutes until golden brown, remove from the oven and rest for 5 minutes, remove the sides of the french pie tin, egg wash the sides and place back in the oven for 10-15 minutes to glaze the sides. Don't be tempted to go any further as the pastry becomes a little unstable and the filling starts to ooze out.

Leave to cool and then place in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving. This will keep for five days.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.