Swineherd pie, anyone? Porky discoveries and most importantly - PIE.

Sounds weirdly unappetising somehow, doesn't it? Like swineflu... Or a herd of pigs smothered in mashed potato. (What a waste! - of both pig and mash.) Or perhaps wrapped in pastry - who's fancies a cheeky pig wellington?

A little while ago one of my best friends came to stay and so naturally I wanted to put on a spread to communicate 'Yay! You're here. I am happy about this!' But I am trying to be thrifty... and I also hoped to justify a couple of decent pints, having reacquired my pub buddy. Obviously this leads me to Google for inspiration.  Having searched several different combinations of 'weekend dinner', I stumbled upon this Swineherd pie recipe peeping out from the dusty archives of a well known newspaper website.

Inevitably I made a few tweaks here and there and knocked out what is in effect a porky Shepherd's Pie. It was tasty and mostly true to the principle of Swineherd pie. Simple, yet satisfying. More to the point, this humble little recipe drew my attention to the wonder that is pork mince. It's at least a couple of quid cheaper than beef. It's lighter, packed with flavour and quite frankly a great change. Yes, ok this is not exactly a startling revelation, but branch out a bit and try bolognese made with pork instead of beef. Here follows the 'how to' section.


Swineherd Pie (serves 4)

1kg potatoes, peeled or 500g puff pastry
500g minced pork
1 onion, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
1 celery stick, finely diced
150g celeriac, diced
1 eating apple, cored and diced
2tsps fennel seeds
1tsp ground coriander
600ml water
Salt and pepper
2 tbsps plain flour (can substitute with 2tbsps cornflour made up to make GF)
Oil

1) Preheat the oven to 190 C/Gas 5/375 F.
2) In a heavy-based pan, ideally one that you can then put in the oven, brown the mince in batches on a medium high heat so that it takes on colour and is sealed. Then set aside the meat.
3) In the same pan sweat off the onions for a couple of minutes and then add the carrot, celery and celeriac. Turn the heat up and so that the veg develops a bit of colour around the edges. At this stage add in the fennel seeds, ground coriander and let that cook out for a few minutes before adding the mince back to the pan.
4) Stir in the flour and cook out for 2-3 minutes then add the apple and seasoning and the water. Cover and lower the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 15-20mins. Meanwhile boil the potatoes in salted water and when cooked, drain and mash with milk and butter.
5) Once the liquid has reduced and the meat mix looks shiny and homogenous, remove from the heat, check the seasoning and then top with mashed potato. Drizzle with oil or pop a few knobs of butter on the top and bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with greens and a light red wine or a fruity white, or why not a cheeky cider!

This is not the only porky dinner I have been working on. In an attempt to revive my rusty pastry skills I made this Pork, apple and parsnip pie. Although as you will see, it looks more like a cobbler, but I assure you it was very nearly pastry. Who cares, it had lots of butter in and tasted good! Anyway my feeling with this one is that I should have finished the pie base with a little cream and made a larger quantity of pastry. Possibly even splashed out and made some puff instead of the mediocre rich shortcrust you see before you, but in the absence of a picture for the Swineherd, here's a teeny photo to make you feel hungry.

P.S The moral of my pastry woes is really, just get in the kitchen, have fun, make mistakes occasionally but just keep tweaking! Over and out :)