Pork en Croute with Spicy Cabbage Stuffing

When out doing a spot of last minute Christmas shopping with Mr Birdie we found Rachel Allen's 'Bake' for a bargainous £3! I spent a lot of the Christmas holidays perusing the recipes. One of the recipes I spotted was this pork en croute recipe which I thought sounded interesting. When food shopping just before the New Year I spotted some pork fillet which was reasonably priced so snapped it up. This weekend I decided to try it out.

It is the first time I have tried anything savoury pastry based and this ambitious! I have to say I thought there was a point during the making of it that I thought it would all end up going horribly wrong but I was pleasantly surprised. As you can see from the photo above I did have a few cracks and sadly a 'soggy bottom' but for a first attempt I was pretty pleased. I used the flaky pastry recipe from Ruth Clemens 'The Pink Whisk' blog which you can find here. I found it was just the right amount of pastry with enough left over to decorate it. I served it as a Sunday roast accompanied by roast potatoes, roast carrots and parsnips and Brussels sprouts. The bonus of this recipe is that it can be prepared beforehand and can stay in the fridge for up to 24 hours or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Ingredients:

Pastry:
300g plain flour
225g butter (cold diced)
1 teaspoon salt
6-8 tablespoons cold water
1 egg (beaten)

Filling:
50g butter
200g cabbage (quartered, cored and finely shredded)
2 tablespoons water
Salt and freshly ground pepper
125ml  double cream
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon English mustard
1 large fillet of pork (approximately 600g, trimmed)

Method:
1) Begin by making your pastry. Dice the cold butter into small pieces. Use a plate to slice the butter and add a spoonful of the flour for the pastry to it. This will help it to stop sticking.

2) Add the butter to the flour and start to rub it in with your fingertips. Only rub it in half way so that you are left with little lumps of butter.

3) Add the salt and then start to add the water, a couple of tablespoons at a time. Mix it together using the blade of a table knife until it just comes together without being crumbly.

4) Lightly knead the pastry in the bowl to form a ball. Then wrap it in cling film or a freezer bag and place it in the fridge to chill for 1 hour.

5) When your pastry is chilled you can start to prepare the filling. Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/Gas 5.

6) Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the cabbage and water, season with salt and pepper and cook for 5-7 minutes.

7) Add the cream, spices and mustard and simmer slowly for a further 10 minutes. Allow to cool.

8) Split the pork fillet down one side and open out flat (take care not to cut the whole way through). Season with salt and pepper. Add the stuffing along the length of the park and fold the meat over, bringing the sides together and tucking the ends in (I found this a bit of a struggle and had to make a second attempt. I had to flatten out the pork with a rolling pin to be able to fit all the stuffing in).

9) Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface and lay the pork on top. Bring up the ends of the pastry and overlap them on top of the meat. Trim to neaten. Turn the parcel over so that the smooth side of the pastry is on top.

10) Re-roll the pastry trimmings, cut out leaves and stick to the top with some of the beaten egg.

11) Brush the beaten egg over the exposed pastry and bake in the oven for 10 minutes, reducing the oven tempertaure to 200C/400F/Gas 6 for the final 30 minutes. 

12) Enjoy with your choice of accompaniment! 

Toffee Apple Pie

Apologies that it has been quiet on the blog front. Mr Birdie and I jetted of to the west coast of America during half term and then we have been busy catching up with friends and meeting our gorgeous new nephew Elliot (congratulations Ian and Steph!) I plan to do a blog post on our foodie adventures in America and have a couple of recipes to catch up on but for now here is my most recent adventure in baking.

Autumn is in full swing and comforting, warming baking is the order of the day. This recipe for toffee apple pie is from Ruth Clemens of 'The Pink Whisk' which you can find on her blog here. I'd never made an apple pie before and as I think I've mentioned before pastry scares me. This recipe uses flaky pastry which I was surprised to find was actually quite easy (for someone who has a pastry phobia!) I am quite tempted to try it again for some mince pies this Christmas. I was pleased with my first attempt at this recipe however I did find that the toffee sauce separated and a lot of butter was at the bottom of the dish (having read comments on The Pink Whisk website other people have had this problem too). It did meet my husbands approval despite this!

You will need an 8 inch pie dish which was something I didn't possess so this was an excellent opportunity to go shopping. I purchased this lovely teal number in TK Maxx.

Ingredients:

For the pastry
300g plain flour
225g butter
35g caster sugar
6-8 tbsps cold water (I needed 10)

For the filling
475g tart, firm or cooking apples (I used Gala apples as these were cheapest in Aldi!)
150g butter
75g light muscovado sugar

1 egg for egg wash
Caster sugar for sprinkling

Method:
1) Begin by making the toffee sauce as it needs time to cool down. Melt the butter and light muscavado sugar in a pan over a gentle heat. Stir it gently and often until the toffee sauce is smooth and well combined. Remove from the heat and set it to one side.

2) Then start to make the pastry. Measure the flour into a large bowl.

3) Dice the cold butter into small pieces. Use a plate to slice the butter and add a spoonful of the flour for the pastry to it. This will help it to stop sticking.

4) Add the butter to the flour and start to rub it in with your fingertips. Only rub it in half way so that you are left with little lumps of butter.

5) Stir through the caster sugar.

6) Start to add the water, a couple of tablespoons at a time. Mix it together using the blade of a table knife until it just comes together with being crumbly.

7) Lightly knead the pastry in the bowl to form a ball. Then wrap it in cling film or a freezer bag and place it in the fridge to chill for 1 hour.

8) Dust your work surface and your rolling pin lightly with flour. Divide your pastry into two halves.

9) Grease your pie tin. Roll out one portion of the pastry and line the base of the tin. Trim off any excess neatly.

10) Peel, core and slice the apples. Add them to the lined pie dish and pour over the toffee sauce (this is where I started to have some issues as my toffee sauce was starting to solidify and was not really pourable - it didn't really look that appetising as you will see in the photo!) 

11) Roll out the second portion of flaky pastry and lay it over the top. Use a pair of scissors to trim the pastry so that there is 1.5cm extra over the side of the tin. Fold this extra pastry underneath the lip of the base layer and gently press to seal them together. Then chill the pie in the fridge for 30 minutes. 

12) Preheat the oven to 180C(fan)/200C/Gas 6. Crimp the chilled pie crust by gently lifting the pastry lip around the edge and using the thumb and forefinger of your left hand to press the top of the pastry over the forefinger of your right hand to make the fluted shape. Work your way around the pie - alternatively you can use a fork. 

13) Brush the top all over with egg wash and sprinkle with some caster sugar. Cut a couple of slits in the centre of the pie with a sharp knife to allow the steam to escape.

14) Bake for 35 minutes until golden brown.

15) Enjoy with cream, ice cream or custard!

Happy baking!