Another thing that we miss from dear old Blighty is Pork pies. We have to travel to Tesco in Cork or Killarney if we want to buy some. So on Friday the good wife did make these pies for the four of us to consume.
They went down very well and we washed ours down with a Newcastle Brown shandy. That's a drink that we have been able to get in Ireland since 2012. It always amazes me how supermarkets and off licences carry so many foreign brands of beers and lagers yet there is so very little choice of English beers. Especially bitter from the Midland upwards. You know the sort of beer with a frothy head.
If you want to make the minced pork pies here's the recipe: make short crusty pastry with 4 ounces of butter/margarine, 8 ounces of flour, rub together to make bread crumbs, add 3 tablespoons of cold water and blend together. Leave to one side.
Take a pound of pork mince and place it in a big bowl. Add salt and pepper, also add a tablespoon of mixed herbs. We uses dry mixed herbs. Blend together using your hands.
Roll out your pastry into the pie size of your choice. Brush with egg wash, cook in a medium oven for approximately forty minutes. Place on a rack to cool. We find they taste better when you have left to mature for a couple of days. Enjoy!
They went down very well and we washed ours down with a Newcastle Brown shandy. That's a drink that we have been able to get in Ireland since 2012. It always amazes me how supermarkets and off licences carry so many foreign brands of beers and lagers yet there is so very little choice of English beers. Especially bitter from the Midland upwards. You know the sort of beer with a frothy head.
If you want to make the minced pork pies here's the recipe: make short crusty pastry with 4 ounces of butter/margarine, 8 ounces of flour, rub together to make bread crumbs, add 3 tablespoons of cold water and blend together. Leave to one side.
Take a pound of pork mince and place it in a big bowl. Add salt and pepper, also add a tablespoon of mixed herbs. We uses dry mixed herbs. Blend together using your hands.
Roll out your pastry into the pie size of your choice. Brush with egg wash, cook in a medium oven for approximately forty minutes. Place on a rack to cool. We find they taste better when you have left to mature for a couple of days. Enjoy!
Killarney. Not for me. Maybe I was there on a bad day. Passed quickly through.
ReplyDeleteWaterville I thought was lovely. The living light. The emerald fields. The black waves and the yellow surf. Cormorants the size of pterodactyls. And the wonderful dolphins.
I like Killarney Gwil. Especially for the shopping, INEC (concerts), Muckross House and gardens and the lakes that remind me of Snowdonia and the Lake District. Waterville is lovely. My favourite place in Kerry is Dingle. There is a dolphin there called Fungi. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteFungi was on strike when we went to Dingle but we still had a great time. We watched the Hurling final on TV in a very crowded pub. And Cork won. In the evening, standing on the end of the peninsula we glimpsed the famous green flash on the horizon after the sunset.
DeleteYes Gwil there is always something going on in Dingle. It reminds me of Cornwall. I have read that Fungi is quite a character. Thanks!
DeleteThose pork pies look good, much better than Tesco's I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteHi Kirsty. They soon got devoured. This is always a sure sign that they went down well. I miss old fashioned home bake shops. You could smell the newly baked bread and pies and cakes from a hundred yards away. You can't beat home made food either. Thanks!
Deletelook a lot better tan the superstore offerings, they're often only half full and tasteless.
ReplyDeleteThanks Cumbrian. It's even worse when the superstores don't stock them. Oh to live near an home made bread, pie and cake shop. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSadly the small independent bakers are disappearing, yet another victim of progress.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of one in my home town, it's dominated by Greggs. Except on big butchers who make high quality pies.
Wish I lived near a Greggs Cumbrian. A traditional bakers shop is rare to find these days.
ReplyDeleteMy hubby made some pork pies at the weekend, they were flippin gorgeous and didn't last long !!
ReplyDelete