Pulled Pork Pie

By semi-mistake this happened, using up leftovers.  It has since been repeated because when feeding friends, whipping it out of the oven – ‘here’s something I prepared earlier’- makes the weekend so much more fun with hot slaving happening the day before!

The picture above is ridiculously rubbish I know but the delicious ingredients are seen in the feature image and I promise this is worth doing and could even be prepared way in advance and frozen.

Serves 8

Ingredients

Shoulder of Pork (sorry I didn’t weight it, so get a shoulder joint to suit the quantity you are feeding)
2 carrots
1 onion
bay leaf
Sprig of thyme
1 bottle dry white wine
400mls water
Mashed potato.  (to be safe use a whole bag of potatoes)

1.  Set the oven to 200°C.
2.  To ensure that the skin of the pork is dry for crackling, sprinkle with salt and leave it for half an hour during which time water from the skin will be released.  Using kitchen roll, take any moisture off and then sprinkle with more salt before putting in the oven.
3. Roughly chop the onion and carrots and place them underneath the pork in a roasting tin.  Put in the oven for up to an hour until the skin is brown.
4. Turn the oven down to 160 degrees C and add the wine, water and herbs. Continue to cook the pork for another 4 hours. Check it now and then and if the liquid is reduced to very little, add a bit of water and cover the pork with foil.
5.  The timing is not precise because it depends on your oven, but when the pork is falling apart when you pull it, it is ready.
6. Remove the joint from the pan and set aside while you make the gravy.
7.  Skim the fat from the top of the liquid.  If you are making this in advance, you could, once cooled, put the roasting tin in the fridge until the fat solidifies on top, and then remove it. Meanwhile the pork would be wrapped in foil in the fridge.
8.  Blitz the contents of the roasting tin minus fat, in a blender, adding more water if necessary.
9.  Pull the pork apart with forks and place it in the roasting tin or another suitable oven proof dish.
10.  Pour the gravy on top, ensuring that there is plenty of it. You could always  add a little more water.
11.  Make some mashed potato and spread it on top or serve it alongside.  Freeze now or refrigerate until you cook it.
12.  Set the oven to 180°C and cook the pork for 20-30 minutes or until golden.
13.  Serve with roasted red, orange or yellow peppers and green beans.