Main Supper

River Cottage Spicy Pork Meatball, Tomato & Olive Pie Recipe

20 minutes prep, 1 hour cook

Serves 6

Ingredients

500g rough puff pastry

Flour, to dust

Egg wash (beaten egg)

A small handful of fennel seeds

For the meatballs

750g fatty pork mince

75g wholemeal breadcrumbs

5 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 medium-heat chillies, deseeded and finely chopped

2 tsp paprika

1 tbsp English mustard

100g sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped

A small bunch of oregano, leaves picked and chopped

3 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped

Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper

For the sauce

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 small onions, chopped

400g tin chopped tomatoes

150g green kalamata olives, pitted and sliced

200g cherry tomatoes

200g baby leaf spinach

Method

1 To make the meatballs, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, seasoning generously with salt and pepper. Shape the mixture into 3cm balls and set aside.

2 Preheat the oven to 210°C/190°C Fan/Gas 6½.

3 To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 10–15 minutes until softened. Add the tinned tomatoes and sliced olives and cook for a further 10–15 minutes until the sauce starts to thicken. Toss in the cherry tomatoes. Now add the spinach, a handful at a time, so it wilts down. Taste the sauce and season accordingly.

4 Meanwhile, spread the meatballs out in a deep roasting tray, about 25 x 20cm, and cook in the oven for about 10 minutes until they take on a little colour. Pour the sauce over the meatballs and return to the oven for another 10 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool.

5 Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until large enough to cover the roasting tray generously, and about 5mm thick.

6 Drape the pastry over the filling and gently press the edges onto the sides of the tray; trim away the excess pastry. Pierce the pie lid in a few places, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with fennel seeds. Bake in the oven for 25–30 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.

7 Serve the pie hot from the oven – I find buttered gnocchi works well on the side.

Recipes extracted from River Cottage Great Pies by Gelf Alderson, published by Bloomsbury. Photography by Emma Lee.