Recipe: Creamy Pork & Autumn Vegetable Pie

• 1½ tbsps vegetable oil
• 500g diced pork
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper
• ¼ tsp celery salt (optional)
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 parsnips, peeled and chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, chopped
• 250ml dry cider
• 450ml chicken or vegetable stock
• Sprig of fresh thyme or ½ tsp dried thyme
• 1 tbsp cornflour mixed with 3 tbsps cold water
• 60ml double cream
• 150g cooked bacon lardons
• 320g of ready-rolled puff pastry (320g is usually one roll of pastry, but you may need two rolls if you wish to decorate the pie with lots of pastry leaves)
• 1 medium egg, lightly beaten

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Preheat oven to CircoTherm® 160°C.

Using a hob-safe and ovenproof casserole pan, heat the vegetable oil until hot. Add the pork, salt, pepper and celery salt and brown on all sides - it should take around 6-8 minutes.

Turn the heat down to medium and add in the onion. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the onion softens.

Add the carrots, parsnips, celery, cider, stock and thyme. Turn up the heat and bring to the boil. Stir and scrape up any bits that may have stuck to the bottom of the pan. Place a lid on the pan, and place in the oven for 2½ to 3 hours, until the pork flakes apart when pressed with a fork. Give it a stir a couple of times during the last hour of cooking and add a splash of water or stock if it‘s starting to dry out.

Remove the casserole from the oven and stir in the cornflour and water mixture to thicken, then stir in the cream. Add the cooked bacon lardons and stir through.

Increase the oven heat to CircoTherm 190°C.

Unroll the pastry and put a 10x8 inch pie dish to one side. If you wish to decorate the pie, ensure you have enough pastry to completely cover the pie with a 1 inch overhang, then use any leftovers for decoration.

For decoration, cut leaf shapes out of the leftover pastry. Score a line down the centre of each leaf, then score little lines coming off the centre line to make it look like a leaf. We made three, but you can make more if you like.

Carefully pour the pork mixture into the pie dish and place the pastry on top. Pinch all around the edges of the dish, then cut off any excess pastry, leaving a 1 inch overhang.

Brush the top of the pie with the whisked egg. Decorate with pastry leaves if using and brush those with egg too.

Prick two holes in the centre off the pie using a sharp knife, to allow steam to escape, place in the oven for 22-28 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and serve. We love to serve it with green veg such as baby kale and peas.