Tales & Recipes from the Kitchen Garden

Among the pages of The Pig you will find an idiosyncratic, seasonal approach to the good life, with delicious recipes, how-to guides, tips, tricks and stories.

Mr Bartlett’s Hampshire Hogs

You Will Need

• 100g breadcrumbs
• Rapeseed oil
• 25g seasoning (roughly 20g salt, 5g sugar, and a pinch each of sage, thyme and garlic powder)
• 700g boneless pork shoulder
• (80% lean meat, 20% fatty meat)
• 150ml cold water
• Sausage casings

Method

Fry the breadcrumbs in a pan with a little oil until golden brown, then mix with the seasoning. Mince the meat straight onto the breadcrumbs (if you don’t have a mincer, pulse in a food processor) and mix, adding the measured water.

Mince again. Tie one end of a long sausage casing with string, then insert the narrow part of a wide-necked funnel in the other end. Using the back of a wooden spoon, push the meat through the funnel into the skin. Once it’s full, remove the funnel and tie the end with string. Pinch and twist into 4 individual sausages, then link and tie with string (each sausage should weigh about 200g).

Put in the refrigerator overnight. For the best flavour, cook over charcoal.

With a Fennel twist…

For The Pig’s take on Mr Bartlett’s Hampshire hogs, use the same ingredients but punch things up a bit by adding fennel pollen (otherwise known as ‘spice of the angels’) and elephant garlic.

Fennel pollen is the tiny dried heads of wild fennel flowers. The Pig’s kitchen garden grow their own but you can buy it online. The flavour of elephant garlic is somewhere between garlic and leek – adding an extra kick to your hogs. If you can’t find any, normal garlic works fine.

Gooseberry Tartlets

There are three elements to this recipe – the stewed fruit, the tart base and the honey clotted cream – and the great thing about each is that you can use them in lots of different recipes. The fruit, for example, is deliciously sharp and tangy; stir a few spoonfuls into whipped cream for a quick gooseberry fool, or spoon over yoghurt for breakfast. And then you have the ultimate sweet pastry recipe, which is super-useful. Add orange or lemon zest, cocoa or spices to create different flavours, depending on your filling. Also, when you make the individual tartlet cases, roll them as thinly as possible.

You Will Need

FOR THE PASTRY

• 190g soft butter, plus extra for greasing
• 170g sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
• 375g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

FOR THE COMPOTE

• 500g gooseberries, topped and tailed
• 200g caster sugar
• 50ml elderflower syrup or cordial

FOR THE HONEY CLOTTED CREAM

• 250g clotted cream
• 2 teaspoons local honey

TO GARNISH

• Edible flowers

Method

For the pastry case, combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a food mixer or processor with a paddle attachment. Keeping your mixer on the lowest setting, gradually add the beaten eggs. Then start mixing in the flour. Don’t over-mix, as your pastry will crumble when you try to roll it out. Tip onto a work surface and finish binding together by hand. Wrap in clingfilm and leave to chill in the refrigerator until firm.

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/180C/gas 6 and lightly butter 6-8 tartlet tins (about 10cm in diameter). Remove the pastry from the refrigerator. Lightly flour a work surface and roll the pastry out to a thickness of 2mm. Use to line the tartlet tins. Line the pastry cases with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and return to the oven, uncovered for a further 3 minutes. Leave to cool, then remove the pastry cases from the tins.

For the Filling

Put the gooseberries in a wide pan, add the sugar, enough water to cover and the elderflower syrup. Warm to gently dissolve the sugar. Turn the heat down to low. Cook gently for 5 minutes, being careful not to break up the fruit. Take off the heat and leave to cool.

Whisk the clotted cream in a bowl and stir in the honey, for a hint of sweetness. Spoon the cream into the pastry cases and add the gooseberries on top. Drizzle the syrup around the edge and garnish with edible flowers, if you have them.

Win a Copy of the Book

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For your chance to win a copy of The Pig: Tales and Recipes from the Kitchen Garden and Beyond, please email your name, address and telephone number to dawn@conservationnews.co.uk. Closing date for entries is Friday 11th September 2020. Good luck!