ROTW Week 28 - Pork and Cabbage Pie

Busy week this week!  We made some great new recipes though, so it was difficult for me to choose one to be ROTW.  In the end, I went with this delicious pork and cabbage pie because it was the recipe I made up.

We watch a reasonable amount of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives while we're waiting for actual good shows to come on, and I love getting insider tips on ethnic foods from there.  We've seen a number of them featuring Eastern European cooking recently, and as a result I bought a cabbage hoping to make cabbage rolls.

HA.  Do you know how long it takes to make cabbage rolls?  Too long for me.  So we used half the cabbage making warm caraway slaw, and the other half had been languishing in the fridge waiting for me to figure out what on earth I could use it for.

Combined with ground pork I had intended for Thai pork salad (which other needed ingredients I didn't have) and a bit of leftover pie crust from Strawberry Rhubarb fame, and voila:  pork and cabbage pie.

Makes 1 family sized pie and 2 mini pies.

1 pastry recipe of your choice, I used this one.
1lb ground pork
1 onion, diced
half a savoy cabbage, chopped
1 cup chicken stock
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp butter
1 egg yolk
1tbsp water


Preheat the oven to 375F.

In a large skillet, brown the pork over medium high heat, 4-5 minutes.  Drain any fat from the pan and return to heat - add onion and cook until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Add the cabbage and cook for an additional three minutes before pouring in the chicken stock.  Be sure to scrape any delicious brown bits from the bottom of the skillet.  Add the nutmeg, paprika, and oregano.

Bring the mixture to a simmer, turn the heat down to med-low, and reduce for 15 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste and stir in the flour to thicken the sauce.  Remove from heat, and stir in the butter.  Spoon the filling into casserole dishes ready for serving - I used one large round casserole, and two smaller ramekin-sized ones.

Roll out your pastry to about 1/8" thickness.  Cut out circles to fit inside your casserole dish, and brush the top with the egg and water beaten together.  Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, or until the tops of your crustare beautifully golden.

Serve with a delicious veg for a tasty meal!