Picnic Pork Pies
Hot Water Crust Pastry
350 g plain flour sieved
140 ml hot water
110 g lard
1 tsp salt
1 egg beaten
Filling:
500 g Cumberland British pork sausages
3 Tablespoons finely chopped onion
3 Tablespoons grated apple
1 Tablespoon fresh thyme or sage
Salt and Pepper
Aspic:
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder
2 teaspoon gelatine
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 180-degree celsius. Grease a 12-hole muffin tray.
Melt the lard in hot water, stir in salt and bring to boil. Remove saucepan from heat and add flour. Stir well to mix into a dough. Knead until smooth.
Divide dough into three pieces. Roll 2 pieces into a thin pastry and cut them to fit the muffin tins. Roll the reminding piece to use as pie tops.
Combine the filling ingredients and half fill each pie with the mixture. Brush the rim of the pastry with the beaten egg wash and crimp the tops to the pies.
Cut a hole in the middle of the top pastry. Brush with egg wash and bake at 180 degrees for 30 minutes, then reduce heat to 160 degrees for another 10 - 15 minutes until cooked. Remove from oven and let the pies cool completely.
In the meantime, stir the aspic ingredients together to allow the gelatine to bloom. Then bring to boil. Then slowly fill the pies.
Chill for at least two hours to allow the gelatine to set.
Serve them chilled.