The extra lean ground pork I get
of late is a tad coarsely cut, and once I put it through the food processor, it
looked very much like a paté… so I had to work with that. Initially I planned
to make a pork tart of sorts. I must confess, the chunks of stuff the Brits put
into their pork pie never appealed to me nor do I like the flavoring in French
Canadian tortierre. Instead I drew from my Hungarian taste experience and it
turned out to be a strangely satisfying dinner, actually several dinners with
fresh greens… Starting with the simplest of ingredients this is as basic as a
Hungarian pork paté can get. No brandy, no liver, no strange seasoning, just a
happy accident, this did not come from the French influence at all.PORK PATÉ IN PASTRY
Pork Filling:
1 crusty bun or the end slice of a French bread
olive oil to cover pan
250 g extra lean ground pork
1/2 onion, diced
1 tomato, peeled and chopped
1/2 yellow pepper, diced
2 tsp Hungarian Paprika
salt, ground pepper to taste
1 egg
2 cloves of garlic, mince
2 Tbsp flour
1/8 cup cold butter, cubed
Pastry:
1/2 cup lard, soft
1/8 cup butter, soft
1 1/2 cups flour
salt to taste
1 egg
1 extra egg for the egg wash
- Make the filling first.
- Run water over the crusty bun or the end slice of a French bread.
- Squeeze out the water and crumple the soft bread into a mixing bowl and then set it aside.
- Place a large non stick skillet on medium heat.
- Cover the bottom with oil.
- Add the ground pork and slowly cook, while breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon. When the meat is all white, add the onion and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Add the tomato and the pepper.
- Add the Hungarian Paprika, salt and ground pepper to taste.
- Transfer to the food processor and pulse it a few times to make a paste.
- Scoop the meat paste into the mixing bowl with the soaked bun bits.
- Stir in the egg, minced garlic and the flour.
- With clean hands combine the meat mixture to make a homogenous paste. Set it aside.
- Next preheat the oven to 375F.
- To make the pastry, beat the lard and the butter until very fluffy.
- With a wooden spoon gently stir in the flour and the salt. Do not beat.
- In a measuring cup, beat the egg.
- Add the beaten egg and with a wooden spoon stir it into the flour mix.
- Kneed until smooth dough forms.
- Divide the dough into a slightly smaller and a larger part.
- On a floured board roll out the smaller dough and line a small bread pan. Let the dough slightly overhang the sides.
- Pour the meat filling into the pastry lined bread pan.
- Dot the top with the butter cubes.
- Now roll out the larger dough on a floured board.
- Place the dough over the bread pan sealing the pate and flute the edges.
- Cut slits onto the top for the steam to escape.
- Whip the extra egg with a fork.
- Lightly! glaze the top and the fluted edge with the egg wash.
- Place in a preheated oven and bake until paté is golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let the paté rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing.
- Paté is nice hot or cold.
