Savoury pork en croute

Instructions

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1 Preheat the oven to 210°C. In a small pan, heat the oil, then add the chopped onion and potato and cook gently until onion is soft and potato cubes are beginning to soften.

2 While the vegetables are cooking, prepare the pastry by cutting a strip approximately 6cm wide off one of the sheets of pastry. Set the strip aside to use for decorating.

3 Attach the remaining piece of pastry to the full pastry sheet by brushing a little water along one edge of the full sheet, overlap with the smaller sheet and press in place. Put the resulting rectangle on a lightly greased baking sheet and roll the pastry gently with a rolling pin, increasing the width of the rectangle by about 1cm.

4 Combine the pork mince, torn bread, bacon, sage, Worcestershire sauce, grated apple and salt in a bowl. Add the cooked onion mixture and 3/4 of the beaten egg (save the rest for brushing onto the pastry before cooking). Stir the mixture thoroughly and pile down the middle of the pastry rectangle, patting and shaping to form a sausage that’s 1-2cm shorter than the length of the pastry.

5 Brush along one side of the rectangle with water then wrap the pastry around the filling. Don’t worry if the pastry only just wraps around. Flip the log over so the join is underneath and tuck the pastry under at each end to enclose the filling. Cut diagonal slashes along the top with a sharp knife and then, using the reserved strip of pastry, cut 8 leaf shapes with a knife. Use a dab of water to stick the leaves in a pattern on the top. Brush the whole thing with the remaining egg and bake 30 minutes or until pastry is dark golden and meat juices are clear. Rest the log for 5 minutes before slicing and serve hot or cold.