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Slow-Roast Pork & Bramley Apple Pasties
4 people
"Back in history, there are stories of pasties being an entire meal – with savoury at one end and dessert at the other. It’s such a wonderful idea that I really had to try it. And why not get age-old friends, pork and apple, to snuggle up together in a pasty? I use juicy slow-cooked pork shoulder for the filling, which yields some good crackling that I suggest you chop in (though I confess to eating a fair bit of it before it makes it to the chopping board). I like to make the pasties about two-thirds pork, one-third sweet Bramley apple, but at least one person in my house would like that ratio reversed." Gelf Alderson, River Cottage
Ingredients
- 750g shortcrust pastry
- Flour, to dust
- Egg wash (beaten egg), to glaze
- For the meat filling:
- 1 onion, sliced
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, bashed
- 500g piece of fatty pork shoulder
- 4 sage leaves, finely chopped
- For the apple filling:
- 600g Bramley apples, peeled and cut into small pieces
- 50g Demerara sugar
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- For the glaze:
- 20g Demerara sugar
- ½ tsp ground mixed spice
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/140°C Fan/Gas 3.
2. To prepare the meat filling, put the onion, carrots and garlic into a roasting dish. Season the pork skin with salt and sit the piece of meat on top of the vegetables. Pour enough water into the dish to give a 2½cm depth. Cover the dish with foil and cook in the oven for 2½ hrs.
3. Remove the foil and turn the oven up to 220°C/210°C Fan/Gas 7. Cook for a further 15–20 mins until the pork skin crackles then remove and set aside.
4. Meanwhile, to prepare the apple filling, put the Bramley apples into a saucepan with the sugar, thyme and 2 tbsp water. Cook over a medium heat, stirring regularly for about 7–10 mins, until the apples start to break down. Pick out the thyme stalks and allow to cool.
5. When the pork is cool enough to handle, lift it on to a board. Remove the crackling, finely chop it and set aside.
6. Tear the meat into small strands and place in a bowl. Break up the roasted onion, carrots and garlic and add to the bowl. Mix with the pork, adding enough of the roasting juices to soften the mixture, then stir through the chopped crackling and sage. Taste and season accordingly with salt and pepper.
7. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Divide the pastry into 4 portions. Roll each out on a lightly floured surface to a rough circle, 3mm thick, and trim to a neat 22cm round, using an upturned plate or loose-bottomed cake/flan tin base as a guide.
8. Leaving a 3cm clear margin around the edge, pile a quarter of the meat filling mixture onto the top half of each pastry round, along the middle. Now pile a quarter of the apple filling onto the lower half of each pastry round, along the middle. Brush the pastry border with egg wash.
9. Bring the opposite sides of the pastry up over the top of the filling so the edges meet in the middle and pressthem together firmly to seal. Crimp the pastry edges with your thumb and forefinger. Remember which end the apple is at!
10. Brush the top of the pastry with egg wash. For the glaze, mix the sugar and spice together and sprinkle over the apple end of the pastry.
11. Place the pasties on the lined baking tray and bake in the oven for 10 mins, then lower the oven setting to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6 and cook for another 15 mins until golden brown.
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