Your own homemade puff pastry is best, and its intimidating reputation is undeserved, but here the quantity has been scaled for standard pre-made packs. Chicharrons are dehydrated, fried pork rinds, a popular snack all over the Americas, and worth tracking down in shops that serve those communities. Packs of diced pancetta, the kind you might use for making a carbonara, are easily come by in supermarkets. The herbs should be fresh, not the dried stuff.
Ingredients
- 2 packs pre-made puff pastry
- 500g ground pork, the courser the better
- 500g sausage meat
- 150g/1 large onion, finely chopped
- 15g/6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 10g/3tbs flat leaf parsley, chopped
- 2g/1tbs fresh thyme leaves
- 2g/1tbs fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
- 1g/half tsp chilli flakes
- 1g/1tsp fennel seeds
- 60g diced pancetta
- 10 chicharron pieces, chopped
- 1 egg
- nutmeg, salt, course black pepper
- Glug of olive oil
- Knob of butter
1. Sweat the onion and garlic over moderate heat in a glug of olive oil and knob of butter. Give it 20-30 patient minutes, driving off all the moisture and taking on a little caramelisation. When it has cooled completely, add to the chilled pork meats in a decent bowl, along with the herbs, fennel seed and chilli flakes. Give a generous scraping of fresh nutmeg and season assertively, especially with the pepper. Mix thoroughly by hand, but not to the point of the abundant fat getting too pasty.
2. Cook off a small meatball sized piece and check the seasoning. Adjust as needed. The sweet spot will be herby, warm from the nutmeg and pepper, bright heat from the chilli, an occasional pop of anise from the fennel seed.
3. Preheat the oven to 210 degrees Celsius, with the fan whirring. Cut the pastry in half along its long axis, creating two rectangular strips. Cut the top off a disposable piping bag to create a 3cm aperture, and fill with the sausagemeat. (You can also improvise a piping bag from a Ziploc bag, or similar). Pipe the filling down the middle of each strip, and brush one edge with water to create a seal when you join the two edges. Crimp the edge with the tines of a fork. Now you have two long rolls, divide each into three or four individual rolls, depending on your restraint.
4. Giving each some elbow room, place the rolls on a greaseproof lined baking sheet. Eggwash them thoroughly, and sprinkle the tops with the chicharron shards, then the pancetta. Bake for 25-30 minutes, let them acquire a good colour. Any you don’t bake now will freeze very well for another day, and leftover filling makes a tasty pattie for a breakfast muffin. That’ll do, pig.
