Friday, January 7, 2011

Pork Pie

As I mentioned in our weekly menu, this pie was inspired by a post on Equal Opportunity Kitchen about Tourtiere. My final result though, was probably much more like the pork pie we had at the Whole Hog Dinner in December (despite the fact I didn't use head meat).
Pork Pie
I thought we had some ground pork in the freezer that wasn't flavored into Italian or breakfast sausage but I was wrong so, I thawed some country style ribs to grind my own. In the end, I decided to skip the grinding all together & just cut the pork into small cubes instead. I think that cubes texture was actually really good against the texture of the grated potatoes & onions.
Pork Pie
As for the rest of the filling I just went with flavors that I thought would be good with pork, beer, apple cider, sage, cinnamon & clove. The kale I added to get some healthy, leafy greens into our dinner. Simmering the pork, onions, kale & potatoes in the beer & seasonings made the pork & kale tender plus brought out a real sweetness in the onions. I was very surprised at home much apple flavor came through with just a little cider vinegar, part of that might have been the clove & sweet onions fooling my taste buds.
The secret is in the lard
Let's talk pie crust*. I know I should be making my own but it so easy to just pull frozen store-bought dough out of the freezer. Plus, I recently discovered this local brand, Pappy's. I love how each packages contains four balls of dough (each big enough for a one crust pie) instead of already rolled out crusts. That means I can shape the dough anyway I want. It tastes wonderful & has a perfect light, flaky texture. Really, how could I resist buying a crust that says "the Secret is in the Lard" right on the package?!

Pork Pie
A great alternative to chicken pot pie! I made this in two individual pie plate so we could have one pie for dinner & the other for lunch leftovers but it'll also work perfectly in one large pie pan.

pie crust for a double crust pie
1/2 T olive oil
3/4 lb pork, cut into 1/2" cubes (I used country style ribs)
salt & pepper
4 1/2 - 5 oz yukon gold potato, grated
2 1/2 oz yellow onion, grated
2 oz kale, blanched & chopped
1/4 t dry sage
pinch cinnamon
pinch ground clove
1 c lighter-style beer (we used Grain Belt Premium)
1 T cider vinegar
1 egg, beaten with a little water

If using a frozen pie crust thaw it out.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the pork, season with a little salt & pepper then sauté until browned on all sides. Stir in the potato, onions & kale. Add the sage, cinnamon, cloves & a little more salt & pepper. Pour in the beer & vinegar. Bring to a simmer. Let simmer until all the liquid is gone, mine took 10 - 15 minutes.

Roll out half the pie crust to fill the bottom of your pie pan & up the sides. Add the pork filling. Roll out the other half the pie crust large enough to top the pie with a little extra. TOp the filling & fold the edges over with the excess bottom crust to seal. Brush with the beaten egg & sprinkle with a little kosher salt. Poke a few times with a fork.

Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F & cook for 30 more minutes.

Makes 1 pie, 4 servings.
Pork Pie

* I wrote about Pappy's pie crust without any compensation or free product. I just like to support local companies that make good products.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2011 Kathy Lewinski

15 comments:

  1. I admit to having some premade pie crust in my freezer. What a shortcut! This pie looks incredible and the seasoning sounds wonderful.

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  2. I adore pork pie! My mom used to make it every Christmas. Her recipe was always by eye and by taste, so it would be near impossible to get right, but I need to try. Also, I love that pie crust! I can't make my own, and that would be perfect! Well, I CAN make my own, and I have, but making it look nice a whole other story.

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  3. When I think of pie, I immediately think of veggies or chicken -- but pork... yum! Also can't apologize for using premade crust. Especially if it's made with lard!!

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  4. a mighty fine looking pie Kathy! and even though i can/do make my own crust, i too have a stash of frozen (Trader Joe's) in my freezer for those times when i don't have the extra couple of hrs to make my own (that 1hr of 'resting' time makes or breaks it for me sometimes)!

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  5. I love that you can roll your own dough - I've never seen anything like that around here.

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  6. yes love it! i did a pork pie with a hoisin sauce and it was so good. so good the next day cold. (bad eating habit I know)
    so yep, i bet this was fab!

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  7. I love Pappy's too. Looks warm and inviting :)

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  8. I like the combination of flavours in the filling. Sounds like the recipe worked out well for you.

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  9. I have never had pork pie. Well actually I have had tamale pie with pulled pork so I take that back. But I think I would like to try yours. I love a dinner that you can put in the oven, clean up most of the dishes and be with company. My kinda Sunday dinner.

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  10. i'm a lover of chicken pot pie. it's my favorite savory pie. that said, however, i've never had a pork pie, which has the added bonus of having an alliterative name. :)

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  11. I'm going to try this recipe tonight and I'm very excited about it! Also, some guests we had a few weeks ago left a bottle of beer (a brand that's OK but I don't really care for) in our fridge, so I get to use that up too!

    Thanks because this seems really yummy!

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  12. Okay, if we had a local pie crust making business I'd probably buy it too. This does look really good. I have turkey pot pie on our menu list this week.

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  13. I have never made a pork pie, but leave it to you and Matt to do so.
    I have never heard of Pappy's, but it's "all in the LARD!". Yum!

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  14. Hi Kat,

    I have been following A Good Apetite for a few months now and love what you are doing. We live in South Minneapolis and would love to know where to get Pappy's pie crust dough.

    Thanks!

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  15. Anonymous - I got Pappy's pie crust at the Kowalski's on Lyndale & 54th. Cheers

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