Bacon and Egg Open Top Pie

I was having a little chat with my housemates today as they had just come back up to Sunderland after spending a long weekend at their parent's and I was asked, "So Steph, what have you been baking this weekend?" I told them about the my Sausage and Leek pie, my rubbish second attempt at an Apple and Cinnamon Crumble and my plans to make a Cherry Loaf and Andy reminded me about an open topped pie that I had made ages ago, that I professed I had never made, so he said "Check your blog if you don't believe me." Well...I've checked it and can't find it, yet I have a picture of it on my phone. So here is a very delayed recipe for my very Mediterranean looking Bacon and Egg Open Top Pie.

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Ingredients

I used my loose bottomed flan tin for this recipe: about 24cm-26cm

For the Filling:                                                                      For the Pastry:

5 Eggs                                                                                      200g Plain Flour

5 Bacon Rashers                                                                  50g Lard

4 Large Tomatoes (Or lots of cherry toms)              50g Butter

6 Large Mushrooms                                                           Pinch of Salt

1/2 Onion                                                                               3-4 tbsp Cold Water

8 tbsp Single Cream

Salt

Pepper

1. Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Cut up the pieces of fat into little cubes and massage into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water, little by little until you can knead the mixture into a ball and clean the bowl. Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for about 30mins.

2.  Preheat the oven to 200degreesC.

3. Roll out the pastry and line your flan/pie tin. Place some baking paper in the centre, making sure the edges of the pastry are covered and sprinkle in some baking beans/rice and blind bake for 20mins. 

4. Remove from the oven and using one of the eggs, egg wash the pastry and place bake in the oven for 5mins UNCOVERED. (This will further support the pastry to avoid soggy bottoms!)

5. Meanwhile gently fry the bacon and onion and chop into little pieces. Line the bottom of the pastry case, scattering the pieces fairly evenly. Add the chopped, uncooked tomatoes and mushrooms, leaving space to crack the eggs into. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

6. Crack one egg into each quarter of the pie...it will feel a bit odd adding raw eggs at this stage, but it looks pretty special when cooked. Then drizzle over the single cream. At this point, I thought the pie looked a bit to dry and I thought the mushrooms were going to burn, so I kept on adding cream til I was happy...but then when I cut into it later, it was a bit too liquidy. You just have to use your best judgement about how much cream to add.

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It was such a yummy pie!! I didn't serve it with anything special - just a bit of salad, but as a whole, it really reminds me of a cross between a quiche/pie that you would have in the warmer months. Normally, Andy's mum would whisk the eggs so it was more quiche based, but presentation wise, I think the eggs add another dimension to the pie. If you want, you can always add more eggs depending on how many people you are cooking for. You can also adapt this recipe so that you can add whatever vegetables that you like. Yum, yum yum!

Bon Appetit!!

Sausage and Leek Pie

So, it's been a while since I made some pastry and I kinda thought it was one of those things were you either 'use it, or lose it' so I asked Andy for some ideas of a pie filling he would like me to try out. We had some leeks in the fridge that I got for a bargain price of 69p and they were looking a bit worse for wear, so we researched some leek pie ideas. Alot were cheese based (Andy can't have cheese based sauces) and others involved using chicken (chicken is really expensive so kind of ruins the idea of making a poor man's pie) so we came up with the idea of combining sausages and leeks - we thought why not, afterall you have sausages with onion gravy and leeks are from the same family, so I gave it a shot.

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Ingredients

(I used the same sized dish as with the Minced Beef and Potato Pie - serves 6)

Pie Filling                                       Pastry

8 Pork Sausages                           400g Plain Flour

3 Leeks                                          200g Butter

30g Butter                                     2 Pinches of Salt

30g Plain Flour                             4 tbsp Cold Water

300ml Milk

3 tsp Mustard (your choice)
Salt
Pepper
1 egg

1. Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl and add the butter in SMALL CUBES (you will see why I stress this later!) Crumble with your fingers until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add the water, little by little and when the pastry begins to combine and can 'clean' the side of the bowl, you know it's ready. Knead into a ball and wrap in cling film. Leave in the fridge to chill for at least half an hour. (If you make the pastry like this, you will have enough for a pie bottom AND lid, so when it gets to just after step 3, you will be able to line your pie dish with your pastry here....however I messed it up, as you will see!)

2. Preheat the oven to 180degreesC.

3. Grill/fry the sausages until browned on the outside. Chop into chunks and place in your pie dish.

4. Fry the chopped leeks in the butter and season with salt and pepper. Once all the butter has melted sprinkle the flour over the leeks and stir continuously. Leave to cook for 3mins or so. Take off the heat and add the milk slowly, yet again, stirring continuously. Add the mustard and season with the salt and pepper.

5. Pour the creamy leek mixture over the sausages that are already cut up in the pie dish.

6. Roll out the pastry and lay on the top of your pie. Use the beaten egg wash and a pastry brush to spread it evenly on the pie lid to get a lovely golden colour. Place on a backing tray in the oven for about 40-45mins.

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We both absolutely loved this pie hot, with a bit of mash and some boiled carrots, however, Andy wasn't so keen on it cold as apparently the leeks tasted like 'jellied slimey eels'....I thought it was scrummy though. 

But, I must admit I MAJORLY cocked up the pastry this time (I told you - use it or lose it!) because I was trying to be clever and take a short cut, so instead of adding the butter in small cubes, I added it all in one go. Consequently when I tried to roll out the pastry it kept crumbling, so I added water then it kept sticking...basically it was a right old mess!!! Furthermore, because I cheated the gluten didn't form properly and therefore the pastry didn't expand to the right quantity, so instead of having a pastry bottom and top, we only had the lid. Whoops!!!

So....because I cocked the pastry up so much, I didn't take a photo, sorry! It just looked like a completely botched up 'pie', but trust me when I say it tasted yummy!!

Why don't you give it a go and add your piccies?? Let me know how it goes guys :)

Bon Appetit!!

Minced Beef and Potato Pie

So, what with my recent desire to conquer my pastry fears, I recently bought a really pretty pie dish off of Amazon so that I could bake some pies!! I've got to admit, when the weather starts turning cold, wet and miserable, there is nothing that I find more comforting than a nice pie, a bit of mash and some veg. Plus, pies are typically northern and cheap filling grub!! So, when I asked Andy what kind of pie he would like me to try first he picked a double crusted Minced Beef and Potato Pie.

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Ingredients

(Serves 6 - fits a 26cm x 26cm x 5cm pie dish)


Filling                                                                    Pastry
Olive Oil                                                                400g Plain Flour
1 White Onion                                                       Pinch of Salt
2 Garlic Cloves                                                      100g Butter
600g Minced Beef                                                 100g Lard
2tbsp Plain Flour                                                   4-6 tbsp Water
200ml Beef Stock
2 tbsp Tomato Puree
2 tbsp Brown Sauce
2 Large Potatoes
Salt and Pepper

1. Start by making the shortcrust pastry - sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Cut the butter and fat into small cubes and using your finger tips, massage the fat into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. 

2. Add 1tbsp of water at a time and using a knife to mix the ingredients, make sure that the water combines all of the dry ingredients. When you can see that the pastry is beginning to stick together, use your hands to kneed it into a ball. You should be able to use the pastry ball to 'clean' the mixing bowl of any bits of flour or fat. 

3. Wrap the ball of pastry in cling film and chill in the fridge for a minimum of 30mins. At this point, pre-heat the oven to 200degreesC and place a baking tray in the centre of the oven.

4. Meanwhile, fry the onion and garlic in a large saucepan until they become translucent. Add the mince and brown. Afterwards add the flour, making sure the mince is covered. Pour in the beef stock, tomato puree, brown sauce and cubed potatoes and simmer for about 10mins or until slightly thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste. Take off the heat and allow to cool.

5. Remove the pastry from the fridge and on a lightly floured work surface cut into two equal portions. Roll out one portion of the pastry so that it is big enough to line the base of your pie dish....then line your dish.

6. If you choose to use a pie funnel, place it in the centre of your dish and then spoon in the beef mixture, doming in the middle.

7. Roll out the other half of the pastry and gently place on top of the pie (making a hole for the funnel). Crimp the edges together with your fingers and using a pastry brush, gently brush either milk or egg yolk on top of the pie for a nice golden colour. You will probably have some excess pastry left over - I just use mine to add some extra decoration on top. NEVER throw away pastry.

8. Place the pie dish on the pre heated oven tray and allow to cook for 40mins or until crispy, flaky and golden. Serve with fresh carrots and frozen peas.

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Quite impressed with how this turned out! Only thing is, I definitely need to invest in a pastry brush, as trying to dab milk on to the top of a pie using your finger tips really doesn't work and instead gives a rather patchy effect. The pie tasted good, but I think it needs to be served with gravy - the beef stock thickens up quite a lot in the pie making it a little dry and the shortcrust pastry doesn't really help. Might give flaky pastry a go next time as it's a bit more flavoursome and less floury.

Bon Appetit!!