Cheeky Pork & Pumpkin Pie

This dish is great fun to make, especially for kids at Halloween. It’s basically a little pumpkin filled with stew and topped with a pastry lid. Pork cheeks are great as they pack lots of flavour and they’ll go incredibly tender when cooked slowly. But if you can’t get hold of them you can also use pork shoulder. I’m not going to lie, this dish is a little bit time consuming but if you’re strapped for time you can always make the stew a day or two in advance and make the pie itself on the day. It’s worth the effort though, it’s incredibly tasty and it definitely doesn’t look like you’re average pie!

Serves: 4
Cooking time: Approx 3 hours in total

INGREDIENTS

• 5/6 pork cheeks
• some flour
• 6 shallots, peeled and halved lengthways
• 2 carrots, finely diced
• 1 red pepper, finely chopped
• 1 fennel bulb, finely sliced
• a large shot of brandy
• 1 1/2 pints of beef stock
• 2 bay leaves
• handful of tarragon, roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon of fennel seeds
• 1 roll of ready made puff pastry
• 1 red chilli (optional) half finely chopped, half sliced into thin rings
• 1 small pumpkin or squash per person
• 1 egg

METHOD

Start by making the stew. Get a large saucepan or stew pan going over medium-high heat and add a little bit of oil. Cut the pork cheeks into 4cm cubes, coat with a little bit of flower and fry off until browned on all sides. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Next, fry off the shallots for a few minutes (add a bit more oil to the pan if needed), then add the carrots, pepper, chopped chilli and fennel slices and continue to cook for about 5 minutes. Now add the brandy and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes to cook off some of the alcohol. Be careful as the brandy may catch and result in a pan full of flames. If this happens, don’t worry, just let it cook away for a bit and the flames will die down eventually. Just make sure your eyebrows are nowhere near the pan (I’m speaking from experience!) At this point add the pork cheeks back into the pan and pour in the stock until it just about covers everything in the pan. Add the bay leaves, tarragon, cinnamon and fennel seeds, bring the stew to a boil, then turn down to the lowest possible setting and cook for at least 2 hours or until the pork cheeks fall apart. Remove from the heat and cook down completely.

While the stew is cooling down it’s time to focus on the pumpkins. Slice the tops off but keep them aside as you’ll need them as a template for your pastry lids. Using a knife and spoon, hollow out the pumpkins, removing all the seeds and most of the flesh until you’re left with a pumpkin bowl. Add them to baking tray and place in a medium-hot oven for approximately 25 minutes or until they’ve softened. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn or brown too much.

While the pumpkins are in the oven you can prepare the puff pastry lids. Roll out your puff pastry sheets, place the pumpkin tops on top and, using a sharp knife, cut around them until you’re left with circular pastry sheets. In order to create the pumpkin ‘ridges’, use the back of a knife and lightly press into the pastry moving from the centre outwards. When done, put them onto a plate and pop into the fridge to chill until you’re ready to finish off the pie.

When the pumpkins are ready, remove them from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes, then fill them (almost to the top) with the pork stew. Place your pastry lids on top, then brush liberally with beaten egg and place back in the oven for about 25-30 minutes or until the pastry had risen and browned. For the spicy version, add your chilli rings on top for the last 10 minutes of cooking.

For added visual impact finish by decorating the pastry lids with some of the pumpkin stalks. Serve with roast potatoes and pickled red cabbage!