LOCAL CHEF RYAN BROKENBROW'S RECIPE
Gala Pie
I love hot water pastry, crispy and shiny on the outside and a little stodgy on the inside with the surprise of a whole egg running trough the middle. A picnic and ploughman’s staple or a thick slice in a lunchbox makes a tasty alternative to a sandwich. Try using different seasoned and marinated cuts of meat to make a fancy sounding pâté en croûte which is a terrine wrapped in this pastry.
Ingredients
- 450g x Plain Flour
- 100g x Strong Bread Flour
- 75g x Unsalted Butter, Cubed
- 1/2 tsp x Table Salt
- 100g x Lard
- 200ml x Water
- 1 x Egg Yolk, Beaten
- Squeeze of Lemon
- 1 x Egg, Beaten
Filling
- 2 x Packs of Jon Thorner's Lincolnshire Sausages (600g)
- 50g x Chorizo, Diced (optional)
- 1 x Medium Onion, Diced
- 1 x Garlic Clove, Chopped
- 1 tsp x Wholegrain Mustard
- 2 tsps x Chopped Parsley
- 4 x Boiled Eggs, Peeled
- Salt and White Pepper
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Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6
To make the pastry – grease a terrine or loaf tin then layer some greaseproof paper over with the sides overhanging the tin so you can lift the pie out when cooked.
Mix both the flours and butter together to make breadcrumbs. Gently heat the lard, water and salt together in a pan until melted then add to the flour mix. Knead/mix with a wooden spoon if too hot to handle for 3/5 mins until smooth.
To make the filling – cut the sausage cases off the sausages and put the meat in a bowl along with the chopped chorizo, onion, garlic, parsley, mustard and seasoning then mix together well.
Cut 2/3 of pastry and push it in the tin and using you hands and fingers slowly manipulate and pull the pastry into the case until it is evenly covering and slightly overhanging. Be careful not to get and holes in the pastry. Work quickly as the pastry cools it will become crumbly and harder to work with.
Put half the sausage meat in the bottom then slightly cut the top and bottom of the eggs and lay them in a line along the middle of the pie.
Place the rest of the sausage meat over the top and slightly press down.
With the remaining pastry slightly roll out, egg was the overhanging pastry rim and place the lid on top. Crimp with your fingers around to seal it. Then egg wash the top of the pie.
If you have any pastry bits left you can make some decoration for the top.
Make a hole in the top to allow the steam to come out.
Bake for 30 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and bake for a further hour. Leave to cool completely in the tin before removing.
Once completely cooled, turn on its side and use the greaseproof to pull the pie out, serve a thick slice with a delicious ploughman’s or as it is with some piccalilli and pickled cornichons.
- Don’t be scared of hot water pastry, it is easy to make and molded in the tin (hand raised) again hand raised sounds fancy but it is a lot easier than trying to roll it out.
