Two into one: Pork and apple in a cheese and onion pie
8pm tonight looking out our window into our front courtyard.
Two into one: Pork and apple in a cheese and onion pie
This weekend is the big freeze in Europe and while I hate the cold, I’ve been looking forward to seeing some snow for the first time this winter.
At 3pm this afternoon, the weather didn’t disappoint. We started to see little wisps of white spin and float in the air and it’s continued like that ever since. The flecks of snow are however so small that I doubt we’ll see more than 5 cm of snow come the morning. It doesn’t matter though because my husband and I are determined to get up and go for a walk tomorrow – there’s nothing better than getting outdoors when the first coat of white covers everything in sight.
In preparation for tomorrow’s walk, I made a pie today because it’s something that I love eating, hot or cold. We ate some for dinner today when it was freshly baked out of the oven and the rest we’ll pack into our lunchbox tomorrow to tuck into sometime during our trek.
I don't have a pie dish so make my pies using our tagine.
Typically, I couldn’t decide what type of pie to make, so I ended up combining my two favourite types of pie – pork and apple with cheese and onion. What a result!!!
Today is also my first attempt at making my own pastry. I’ve always been a bit scared by pastry making but I bit the bullet today and am so glad I did. The shortcrust pastry is based on a recipe by Nigel Slater and it’s so versatile and easy; it created the most utterly crumbly and flaky crust, and I know I’m onto a winner when my husband went back to the kitchen to ‘straighten the edges’ of the pie. I don’t own a pie dish so I always make my pies using the base of our tagine, it works brilliantly every time too!
Nigel Slater's shortcrust pastry is so easy to patch up and can take rough handling.
It all looks like one great big mess but trust me, this tastes gooooood!
Please excuse the rough edges. it's my first time learning to crimp pastry
Flaky, buttery, crispy and utterly delicious.
Check out how flaky the pastry turned out.
My two in one pie: apple and pork as well as cheese and onion
Wherever you are, I hope you’re keeping safe and warm (or cool). Meantime, I’ll leave you with a picture of our cat Sootysmudge. She’s found a new warm spot – on the window ledge but in between the curtains where the heat obviously gets trapped. 🙂
Skinny's new warm spot right above the heater and in between the curtains.
Look at that cute little paw. Awwwww. 🙂
Have a lovely week ahead.
Click here for the printer-friendlier recipe.
Lots of love
thebigfatnoodle
Pork and apple in a cheese and onion pie
To make the pastry
340 grams plain flour, sifted
Pinch of salt
170 grams (cold) butter, cut into little pieces
3-4 tablespoons of cold water
Rub the cold butter into the flour until you get fine breadcrumbs. Add 2 tablespoons of cold water to bring the pastry together into a ball. If it’s still crumbly, add another 1 or 2 more tablespoons of water. As soon as you can get all the pastry together into a ball, stop kneading and wrap up the pastry with cling film and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
A filling made with apples, onions, pork sausage meat and cheese.
For the filling
1 cooked and peeled potato (about 150 grams) cut into little pieces
1-2 apples (120 grams), peeled, cored and cut into little pieces
10 gram of butter
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
200 grams of extra mature cheddar, grated
4 tablespoons double cream
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
6 pork sausages, skin removed and roughly torn into pieces
½ teaspoon chilli powder
½ teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
Salt and pepper for seasoning
1 beaten egg for glazing
Preheat your oven to 220°C/gas mark 7.
You can eat this hot or cold.
First, brown your sausage meat in a saucepan – you shouldn’t need any oil as the sausage meat should release enough oil for you to brown the meat off nicely. Transfer the browned meat into a large mixing bowl and leave aside.
In the same saucepan, heat the butter and fry your chopped onions over a gentle heat until they turn translucent. Add your worcestershire sauce and once the onions are softened, allow them to cool before adding to your mixing bowl.
Mix all your other ingredients (apart from the beat egg) with the sausage and onions. Season with salt and plenty of black pepper.
Divide your dough into 2 balls, one slightly larger than the other.
Roll out your pastry and place the larger piece into your pie dish. Don’t worry if your pastry splits or breaks, just use your fingers to press the dough back together again.
Place your filling into your pie case and then top it with your second piece of rolled out pastry. Crimp the edges and baste the top with beaten egg.
Bake your pie in the oven for 30 minutes until crisp and golden.
thebigfatnoodle 
This looks so, so tempting. Your pastry is fantastic!
Thanks ksenia, it turned out great, phew!
I can die for that crust alone!! Looks very tempting.
Thank you, the pastry was awesome, not exactly diet friendly but very,very good 🙂
Lover of the pie, fruit and meat. Skinny is one purty cat. Thanks for sharing & Have a Great Weekend:)
I’ve never attempted a fruit pie yet so that’s next on my list 😉
Ahhh, I love to straighten the edges.. then unstraighten them and then straighten them again:) This looks so yummy and I think your crust looks absolutely perfect! Much better than my miserable attempts!!
That’s what my husband does too, lol! 🙂
I love the use of the tagine for the pie! And that is a mighty fine looking pie, I must say.
Thanks, the tagine really works brilliantly ands it’s always turned out perfect pies.
I would be ecstatic to have my pie’s edge look so good and would never have guessed this was your first attempt at pie crust. Well done!
Thank you, I was really worried at first as the pastry kept splitting as I was rolling it out but once I got a fairly large piece, II was able to just patch the tears up in the tagine, almost exactly like playing with play doh – it was a life saving pastry recipe.
Both you and Celia make me want to bake and eat pies! Hope you have a great walk today.
And aaaawwww cutie cat, beautiful colouring!
I’m definitely getting the baking bug 🙂
Fantastic looking pie. Hope you’re having a good weekend.
Thank you. Hope you enjoyed the super bowl weekend 🙂
Everything looks great but the crust is SUPERB!
Thanks Arturo, I am very pleased with the pastry, especially since it was my first attempt!
Haha! What an awesome idea, you do come up with some rather interesting and original recipes – I mean that in a good way. Yummy! Also, I love the cat – gorgeous.
Cheers FF! I was lucky this time, sometimes my flavour combos definitely don’t work but this was a proper good pie.
Pork, apples, onions and cheese just go together in my mind and this pie looks to die for! I may have to try my hand at this recipe as the thought of it has me drooling. Love your kitty pic…so cute!
Don’t drool too much, you’ll stain your keyboard, lol 🙂
KITTY! Your cat is adorable.
The pie sounds great. It sounds like a good recipe to have for baking up on the weekend and then taking to work (though I’d much rather be walking in the snow…sigh…).
Thank you, we love our kitty too. She provides endless hours of amusement.
Wow, you’re not wrong about the pie-crust… so lovely and flaky, and I LOVE the fact that you made it in a tajine… how cool is that?! Deep-fill for the win 🙂 I can imagine the flavours… cheese and onion, pork and apple – two great combinations. Mixed together – must be fab 🙂
Our tagine base has always worked well. It actually browns the pastry perfectly and works just as well as any baking dish, I’d say even better because you got it spot on, it’s deeper so can take more fillings 🙂
With all these ingredients, I love that this pie sounds delicious with all the different flavors!
I took a punt and was worried it might be flavour overkill but it thankfully wasn’t. Adding the chilli powder really worked, and gave it some extra heat.
Not only does this sound delicious, it’s beautiful!!! What a great job you’ve done!!
I love your kitty, and that little picture of the paw is absolutely adorable. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you. Cats and cooking, that’s pretty much my life outside work, lol 🙂
That looks tasty as all get out. We’ve been having a mild winter here, thank goodness, but last year’s was a bear. Cheers!
Send some of that mild weather over here please! 🙂
Oh my goodness. I some how feel slighted. I almost missed out on this post. Been studying for exams and my head in the books and oh my goodness there it was the pie from heaven. I hope you saved me a piece. BAM
Glad you stopped by then! My husband ate the last piece tonight and said it was just as nice as before 🙂
That sounds delicious and decadent – love using apples in savory recipes!
Pork and apples deffo work together, I love them in savoury foods.
Wow! I love the combination of flavors. The pastry looks divine, including that you have clearly got a gift for crimping if that’s really your first attempt! And Skinny is obviously one smart kitty, to choose such an excellent perch from which to rule the world. 🙂
Hi Kathryn, yes that really was my first attempt. It turned out ok, a little uneven but all those years of watching cooking programmes paid off, lol! 🙂