Gill Meller's raised pork, chicken and parsley pie

If you fancy a cooking project this weekend Gill Meller's raised pork, chicken and parsley pie from his new book Outside would be perfect.

Gill writes: There are two pleasures here. The first is pie making. The second, pie eating.

Pie making is the kind of cookery you settle into, like a good book, so give yourself time. Each stage of the recipe is a chapter, in a sense, and the finished pie, cooling on the sideboard, is the last page, the conclusion.

Eating the pie, particularly this pie, is equally enjoyable. You are like an architect at this point, stepping back and admiring your work, although in this case you get to eat your own building. A big pie like this needs to be made the day before your picnic – it gives everything time to cool and find its place.

SERVES 8

‘For the hot water crust pastry

200g (7oz) pork lard

500g (1lb 2oz) plain (all-purpose)

flour, plus extra for dusting

½ teaspoon sea salt

2 eggs

For the filling

1.5–2kg (3lb 5oz–4lb 8oz) organic

or free-range chicken, preferably with giblets

350g (12oz) fatty pork belly, cubed

200g (7oz) bacon lardons or chopped streaky bacon

a large handful of flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped

a handful of chives, finely sliced

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

a good pinch of grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon sea salt

You’ll need an 18–20cm diameter by 7–9cm (7–8in x 2¾–3½in) deep pie dish or cake tin.

To make the pastry, put the lard and 170ml (5½fl oz) of water into a pan and warm them over a low heat until the fat has melted and the mixture is warm – it doesn’t have to boil.

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine the flour with the salt. Crack one of the eggs into a bowl and beat it lightly.

Pour the lard and water mixture into the flour. Add the beaten egg and bring everything together to form a dough. Gather up the dough and place it on a work surface. Fold the pastry four or five times until smooth.

Allow the pastry to cool in the fridge. It’ll be much easier to work with if it’s not warm.

While the pastry is chilling, make the pie filling. Place the chicken on a board. Remove the giblets from the cavity.

Use a sharp knife to remove each leg from the bird. Divide the drumsticks from the thighs. Carefully remove the chicken breasts. Try not to leave any meat on the carcass. Remove the skin from the legs and breasts – you can save this and all the chicken bones for making a delicious stock.

Cut the leg and thigh meat away from the bones and place it in a bowl with the cubed fatty pork belly and the lardons or chopped bacon. Trim the chicken liver and heart and add this to the other meats.

Give everything a good mix, then put it through a mincer. Or, if you don’t have a mincer, chop the meat to a relatively fine consistency by hand. (This can take time but it’s worth the effort.) Place the minced chicken and pork back into a large bowl and add the parsley and chives, along with the ground white and black pepper, nutmeg and salt.

Cut the chicken breasts into 2–3cm (3⁄4–1.in) cubes and add this to the minced pork and chicken, too. Carefully turn the chunks of chicken through the minced pork, herbs and seasoning so everything’s really well mixed and evenly distributed. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/Gas 4.

Set aside a quarter of the pastry for the pie lid. Form the remaining three-quarters into a round and, on a floured surface, roll it out into a circle, roughly 35cm (14in) in diameter. Lay the pastry in the pie dish, carefully bringing it up the sides and smoothing out any pleats (of which there will be many) as you go, to make the pie case. Leave a very slight overhang of pastry all round.

Fill the lined tin with the chicken and pork mixture, making sure you don’t leave any unfilled gaps. Don’t worry if it doesn’t come all the way to the top of the pie dish; it’s fine.

Roll out the smaller portion of pastry for the pie lid. It should have the same diameter as the pie dish itself.

Crack the remaining egg into a bowl and beat it to make a glaze. Use a pastry brush to brush the rim of the pastry with a little beaten egg. Carefully ease the lid into place and crimp the edges together in a tight, neat fashion. You’ll have to trim any overhanging edges back to the crimped seam at this point. Use the tip of a knife to make a small hole in the middle of the lid.

Set the pie in the middle of the oven and bake it for 20 minutes, then lower the oven setting to 160°C/140°C fan/315°F/Gas 2–3. Brush the top of the pie all over with beaten egg and return it to the oven for a further 1 hour 10 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden and the filling is cooked through. Remove the pie from the oven and allow it to cool, then refrigerate it for 6–8 hours or overnight before slicing and eating.

What to drink: I actually think a pale or golden ale or a medium dry cider would be perfect with this dish but if you fancy a glass of wine a light red like a Beaujolais would also work well.

Extracted from OUTSIDE: Recipes for a Wilder Way of Eating by Gill Meller (Quadrille, £30) Photography: Andrew Montgomery

Puff pastry baked–Camembert with quince and roasted garlic

This is one of the many enticing recipes in The Orchard Cook, a beautifully illustrated book I was sent by photographer and food writer Stuart Ovenden and which provides inspiring ideas as to what to do with autumnal fruits such as apples, pears and quince.

Stuart writes: "This is pretty much cheese-lovers’ nirvana; cutting open a baked Camembert is one of those moments that compels a collective gasp around the table, before a quick clamour to find a suitable means of damming the tide of melted cheese. The roasted garlic cloves can be squeezed and spread onto toast before diving in.

Serves 4

For the quince poached in sugar syrup:

2 large quinces, peeled, cored and halved lengthways
750ml water
100g sugar
3tbsp honey
juice of ½ lemon

For the baked Camembert:

250g whole Camembert
375g pack puff pastry
1 quince poached in sugar syrup
1 egg, beaten
poppy seeds

To serve:
1 garlic bulb, roasted
4 slices toasted sourdough

1 For the poached quince, tip the fruit into a medium-sized pan and cover with the water. Stir in the sugar, honey and lemon juice, then bring to a simmer. Keep on the heat for 60-90 minutes, or until the quinces and syrup have turned pink – cooking time will vary depending on the quinces. Leave to cool and transfer with the syrup, into a large sterilized jar.

2 Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan), Gas 6. Lightly flour your work surface and roll the pastry out to a 5mm thickness. Cut out two circles; the base should be about the size of a saucer (the cheese needs to have about a 2-3cm gap all the way round), while the top should be the size of a dinner plate.

3 Lay your hand flat on top of the Camembert and use a serrated knife to carefully cut the cheese in half horizontally (a bit like how you’d cut a cake in half). Slice the quince and arrange evenly on top of the bottom half of the cheese. Put the top lid of the cheese back on. At this point it’s a good idea to use a sharp knife to trim the sharp-edged top of the rind off, so that the cheese has a nice dome shape when covered.

4 Cover an oven-proof tray with a sheet of baking parchment. Put the smaller pastry circle in the middle, then carefully place the filled-cheese on top. Brush the exposed pastry at the base with egg, then lift the pastry lid on. Shape the pastry around the cheese with your hands, then use a fork to pinch the pastry seam together and create a seal. Brush with egg, scatter some poppy seeds over the top and bake for 25 minutes until golden. Serve with roasted garlic cloves and toasted sourdough.

What to drink: A tricky one, this, depending a bit on whether you're serving it as a supper dish or as an alternative to a cheese course or dessert. If it's the former I'd be tempted to go for a good artisanal cider, an amber/orange wine or a Roussanne-based Rhône or Languedoc white. With the latter you could drink a Pommeau or other apple aperitif or digestif or even a 10 year old tawny port.

For other ideas see What to Pair with Camembert

Extracted from The Orchard Cook by Stuart Ovenden, published by Clearview at £25.

Chicken, cider and Cheddar crumble

There's been a decided nip in the air these last few evenings so I don't think it's too soon to make this comforting savoury crumble from James Rich's new book, Apple.

James writes: "This makes for a warming, wholesome supper and can be made ahead of time and chilled until needed. Just leave the final baking until about half an hour before you want to serve."

Serves 6

Prep 20 mins

Cook 40 mins

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

100 g (3½ oz) mushrooms, sliced

350 g (12 oz) skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into chunks

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 cooking apple, such as a Bramley, peeled and cored

1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard

200 ml (7 fl oz/scant 1 cup) dry cider

100 g (3½ oz/scant ½ cup) crème fraîche

salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the crumble

250 g (9 oz/2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour

1 teaspoon mustard powder

salt and freshly ground black pepper

150 g (5 oz) butter, at room temperature, diced (though I'd use chilled butter FB)

150 g (5 oz) mature Cheddar, grated (shredded)

30 g (1 oz/¼ cup) hazelnuts, chopped

Preheat a fan oven to 200°C (400°F/gas 6).

Heat the oil in a large frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat and fry the onion, celery and carrots for 5 minutes until they begin to soften. Add the garlic and mushrooms and fry for a further 3 minutes.

Add the chicken and oregano to the pan and continue frying for another 10 minutes until the chicken begins to brown.

Cut the apple into 8 wedges, add to the pan and fry for a further 2 minutes.

Next, add the mustard and stir in well. Then pour in the cider and increase the heat. Cook on a high heat for 3–5 minutes until the alcohol has burnt off and liquid has reduced by about a quarter. Turn off the heat, stir in the crème fraîche and season to taste with salt and pepper. Then transfer to a large baking dish.

To make the crumble topping, put the flour, mustard powder and some salt and pepper in a bowl and mix together. Add the butter, then rub between your fingers and thumbs (or pulse in a food processor FB) until you have a breadcrumb-like mixture. Stir in the cheese and hazelnuts and mix well.

Top the apple, chicken and cider with the crumble and bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until the crumble is golden brown and crunchy. Serve with your favourite vegetables.

What to drink: Well, it really has to be cider in my view but you could go for a rich chenin blanc or a chardonnay.

Extracted from Apple: Recipes from the Orchard by James Rich, published by Hardie Grant at £20. Photograph © Jacqui Melville.

Root Vegetable Stew with Herb and Mustard Dumplings

If you've been experimenting with vegan food this January or 'veganuary' as it's been dubbed you'll know that vegan food doesn't have to be insubstantial or, indeed uninteresting. For those of you who remain to be convinced here's a hearty stew from Rachel Demuth of Demuth's Cookery School in Bath which contains both cider and sherry!

Rachel writes: Stews and slow-cooking dishes are perfect for cold winter days. Winter food needs to be piping hot, comforting, filling, sustaining and hearty.

The choice of vegetables can be altered to what you have in the kitchen. If you like swede or turnips, add some. Dumplings are the ultimate in comfort food!

Root Vegetable Stew with Herb and Mustard Dumplings

Serves: 4

Dietary: Vegan

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 shallots, peeled and quartered
• 4 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 leek, sliced
• 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
• 2 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 440ml dry cider
• 1 tbsp sherry
• 2 bay leaves
• a few sage leaves
• 500ml vegetable stock
• 1 tsp Marmite
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• handful of fresh parsley, chopped

Dumplings

• 110g self-raising white flour
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 50g vegetable suet or margarine
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• ½ tbsp chopped fresh sage
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• cold water to mix

Method:

1. In a large casserole dish fry the shallots in the rapeseed oil until they are golden.
2. Add the garlic and the leeks. Fry for a couple more minutes, and then add the carrots, parsnip and potatoes and stir-fry.
3. Add the cider and sherry and bring to the boil.
4. Mix the Marmite into the vegetable stock and add to the stew along with the bay leaves and sage leaves.
5. Season to taste and simmer gently for about 25 minutes or until all the vegetables are nearly cooked, before you add the dumplings.
6. While the stew is simmering, make the dumplings. They need to be added 15 minutes before the stew is ready.
7. Sieve the flour with the mustard powder into a large bowl then add the vegetable suet or margarine, salt and freshly ground black pepper and fresh herbs. Just before adding to the stew, mix in enough water, a little at a time, to make a firm but not sticky dough. With floured hands, break the dough into about 12 small pieces and roll them into round dumplings.
8. Before adding the dumplings, check the stew for seasoning and add the chopped parsley. At this stage you may need to add some more liquid so that there is sufficient for the dumplings to cook through. Add the dumplings to the stew, push them down into the liquid and simmer gently for 15 minutes or until the dumplings have doubled in size.
9. Serve in large deep bowls in front of the fire.

What to drink: Since you're using cider to make this delicious stew I'd definitely drink cider with it.

You may also find this post on pairing wine with vegan food useful.