This Pork Pie was born out of a simple flash of inspiration when I was trying to decide what to cook for the family’s dinner tonight!
Very simple to make & very filling
Ingredients (be flexible with quantities and adapt ingredients to your liking & what you happen to have in your cupboards/fridge)
For 4-6 people (4 of us were stuffed like little piggies when we’d finished it!)
- 4 Pork Shoulder Steaks, cut into approx. 1cm square pieces
- 4-6 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced very thinly (ideally with a mandolin)
- 2 large courgettes (or 3-4 small ones), topped & tailed then sliced very thinly (ideally with a mandolin)
- 3 onions, sliced very thinly (ideally with a mandolin)
- 3-4 fresh tomatoes, thinly sliced (a mandolin doesn’t work with tomatoes, just slice thinly with a serrated knife)
- 3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped (or substitute with garlic powder)
- mild paprika – a very generous sprinkling
- sea salt
- Olive oil (not extra virgin as that’s a waste for cooking
- 1 chicken stock cube (or I quite like using Knorr Stock Pots)
- Cheddar Cheese, grated – enough to cover the surface of your pie but not too heavily
- 1-2 tbsp plain white flour
- 0.5l water
Method
- Pour ca. 400ml boiling water into a jug and add the stock cube / stock pot and dissolve
- Mix ca. 100ml cold water with 1-2 tbsp flour, making sure there are no lumps, and mix into the stock you’ve made up
- Heat the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan, add the onions and fry on a high heat for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until they become golden and, in parts, crispy, then set aside in a bowl
- Return the frying pan to the heat, add the chopped up pork and season generously with salt & paprika, add the garlic. Stir on a high heat until the meat is browned all over, then remove from the heat
- Place about half the meat into a rectangular baking dish, spreading it out evenly
- Place about half the fried onions over the pork, spreading them out
- Place about half the sliced tomatoes over the pork and onions, spreading them out
- Carefully create a layer of courgettes, making sure each slice slightly overlaps the previous one. Do this until the entire surface of the dish is covered
- Season with salt
- Create a potato layer in the same way as you did with the courgettes, slightly overlapping each potato over the previous one
- Pour on about half the stock & flour mixture, making sure the potatoes all get a bit of fluid
- Season with salt if desired
- Add the remaining tomato slices, spread out over the layer of potatoes
- Add the remaining fried onions, spread out
- Add the remaining pork, spread out
- Create another full layer with the remaining courgettes, ensuring each courgette slice slightly overlaps the previous one, then season with salt if desired
- Create a final full layer of potatoes, ensuring each slice overlaps the previous slightly, working from the outside in so you end up with a pretty pattern of overlapping potatoes
- Pour on the remaining flour & stock mixture, ensuring the potatoes all get a good covering
- Season with salt if desired
- Sprinkle on the grated cheddar cheese
Place in a medium/hot oven (170°C fan-assisted, 185°C convection) for 45-60 mins, removing from the oven once the potatoes are cooked and the cheese has formed a golden crust.
Serve and enjoy!!!
Gloriously simple, gloriously good!
