PULL-APART PORK PIE

These are delicious – hot or cold!

Makes 28 individual pies • Preparation: 25 minutes • Baking time: 45 minutes • Oven temperature: 180°C

• 3 rolls (400g each) frozen shortcrust pastry, defrosted • micro herbs and mustard, to serve FILLING • 1 tub (230g) cream cheese in the flavour of your choice (we used sweet chilli) • 1 egg, separated • 15ml cake flour • 500g (28) pork chipolatas • 2 spring onions, chopped 1 Mix the cream cheese with the egg yolk and flour (keep the egg white for later). Remove the sausage casings. Carefully roll out the shortcrust pastry and cut out 3 Fold the pastry circles in half over the filling and pinch the two ends together with the open side facing up. 10cm circles without rolling it thinner. We got 30 circles from the three rolls of pastry. Press the leftover pastry together and freeze for another day. 2 Spread a layer of cream cheese on each circle of pastry, then spread the meat of one pork chipolata on one half. Sprinkle with the spring onions.

TIPS

• I use a perforated pizza sheet for a crispier result.

• Feel free to substitute the pork chipolatas with chicken sausages or boerewors as a variation. For a vegetarian option, use a slice of grilled brinjal and a strip of roasted sweet pepper with the cream cheese mixture in each bite and consider pesto as a dipping sauce. 4 Preheat the oven. Arrange the mini pies on a baking tray around an ovenproof bowl so that they look like the petals of a flower. Don’t pack them too tightly against each other – this will ensure a crispier end result. Brush the pies with the reserved egg white and bake for about 45 minutes or until golden-brown and cooked through.