Ham and Mustard Pie
Slow-cooked ham hock, potatoes and buttery shallots in a honey and mustard sauce, under a flaky cheese and mustard pastry.
- Prep
- 50 min
- Cook
- 4 hr 10 min
- Total
- 5 hr
- Serves
- 8
From BBC Good Food
Ingredients
For the filling
- 2 ham hocks, about 3 kg in total
- 4 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp whole black peppercorns
- 400 g potatoes, cut into bite-sized cubes
- 85 g butter
- 350 g shallots
- 75 g plain flour
- 1 tbsp English mustard powder
- 400 ml milk
- 2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
- 2 tbsp clear honey
- 1 bunch parsley, small, chopped
- 1 egg, beaten, to glaze
For the pastry
- 175 g butter, frozen overnight, wrapped in foil
- 350 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- ½ tsp salt
- 1½ tbsp English mustard powder
- 100 g mature cheddar
- 175–200 ml cold water
To serve
- green vegetables (optional)
- gravy (optional)
Method
The day before
- Wrap the butter for the pastry in foil and freeze it overnight.
- Put the ham hocks, bay leaves and peppercorns in a large pan, cover with water and a lid, and simmer for 3 hours, until really tender, topping up the water if needed. Alternatively, cook them in a slow cooker for 6–8 hours. Leave to cool in the liquid, then chill overnight if you have time.
Make the pastry
- Tip the flour into a large bowl with the salt and mustard powder. Holding the frozen butter in its foil and peeling the foil back as you go, coarsely grate it into the flour. Dip the end of the butter in the flour every so often to stop it clumping. Grate in the cheese too.
- Stir lightly with a cutlery knife, then stir in 175–200 ml of cold water to bring the dough together. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
Make the filling
- Meanwhile, boil the potatoes for 8 minutes, until just cooked, then drain. Melt the butter in a large pan and cook the shallots gently for 10–15 minutes, shaking the pan now and then, until tender and golden.
- While they cook, drain the ham hocks, keeping the cooking liquid. Shred the meat with two forks, discarding the fat and bones.
- Lift the shallots out of the pan and add them to the ham. Stir the flour and mustard powder into the butter left in the pan to make a paste and cook for 1–2 minutes. Add the milk a little at a time, stirring until smooth after each addition, to make a very thick sauce.
- Thin the sauce to the consistency of double cream with about 300 ml of the ham cooking liquid. Season with pepper. It should be salty enough from the ham stock, but add a little salt if it needs it. Stir in the ham, potatoes, shallots, wholegrain mustard, honey and parsley, then leave to cool.
Assemble and bake
- Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan, gas 6) with a baking sheet on the middle shelf.
- Divide the pastry into two balls, one a little larger than the other. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the larger one to the thickness of a £1 coin and use it to line a 23 cm metal pie plate or shallow cake tin.
- Spoon in the filling and brush the edges with beaten egg. Roll out the rest of the pastry, lay it over the top and trim off the excess. Crimp the edges if you like, brush with more egg and cut 2 steam holes in the top.
- Bake on the hot baking sheet for 45–50 minutes, until crisp and golden. Serve piping hot, with green vegetables and gravy if you like.