California Prune Pork Pies with California Prune & Cider Chutney

To mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, why not treat yourself to a classic British dish with a California Prune twist! This savoury delight is complemented beautifully by the bespoke cider chutney – a sure fire hit, for a truly special occasion.

Makes: 12Prep Time: 45 minutesCook Time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

  • 300g gammon, minced (gammon joint, minced in the food processor)
  • 300g Cumberland sausage meat
  • 1 tbsp Fennel seeds
  • 4 leaves Fresh sage (dried- 1 tsp)
  • 200g California Prunes
  • Short Crust Pastry
  • 700g plain flour
  • 350g margarine
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 120ml ice cold water (approx.)
  • 1 egg beaten
  • Chutney
  • 200g California Prunes
  • 2 red onions, chopped
  • 2 Star Anise
  • 200ml Cider
  • 100g Soft Brown Sugar
  • 50ml White Wine Vinegar
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DIRECTIONS

 

If you are making the pastry yourself – this is how to do it

1. Pour the flour into a mixing bowl with the margarine and rub together with your hand to form a crumble type mixture.
2. Add the salt, egg and water before mixing to a pastry dough.
3. Transfer the pastry onto a clean lightly floured work surface and knead for 2-3 minutes.
4. Place the pastry into the fridge to rest for 30 minutes before rolling out.

For the filling

5. Place the sausage meat, gammon, fennel seeds and sage into a mixing bowl with the California Prunes.
6. Mix together until all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
7. Roll the pastry out to approximately 1/2cm thick and cut out 24 10cm rounds of pastry.
8. Place each disk of pastry into an individual pie tin.
9. Weigh out 12 60g portions and roll into balls before placing in the centre of each pastry disk.
10. Brush the edges with beaten egg and top with the remaining pastry disks.
11. Lift the pies out and crimp the edges before cutting with a smaller round pastry cutter.
12. Crimp the pies once again and return to the baking tin.
13. Poke a hole in the top of the pie to release the steam during the baking process.
14. Brush with the remaining egg and bake in a pre-heated oven 160 °C for 25-30 minutes.

For the Chutney

15. Place the onions, California Prunes, star anise and cider into a frying pan and heat.
16. Pour in the sugar and add the vinegar.
17. Turn the heat up and simmer until it reduces by half in volume.
18. Remove from the heat and store in a clean jam jar in the fridge.

AUTHOR

Peter Sidwell

Peter Sidwell

California Prune Board Ambassador Peter Sidwell, is a chef, baker, TV presenter, author, and innovator of all things food related. Peter has been a chef all his working life and over the years has developed a simple, fresh and innovative way of cooking which focuses on the importance of fine ingredients and technical know-how to ensure the best results. Peter has travelled the world cooking, talking and demonstrating his approach and explaining how and why it works so well for all manner of food offerings. Peter works both with chefs, consumers, food producers and retailers to innovate, create process or refine procurement. Working from his new innovation centre in England's beautiful Lake District, Peter and his team create exciting, attractive and mouth-watering new recipes with digital content, showcasing the delicious flavour and versatility of California Prunes.