Wednesday 27 May 2009

Dan's pie

Yesterday over at Essex Eating, Dan posted the recipe for his family's heirloom egg and bacon pie. What with the weather turning colder again, the thought of it was so good that I rustled up this version, using what I'd already got in the fridge and larder. Call it a variation on a wonderful original.

Homage to Dan's egg and bacon pie

Eight or so sheets of filo pastry
A good handful of leftover smoked gammon
A finely chopped onion
Four sliced tomatoes
Three eggs
A slosh of double cream
A good handful of a strong cheese - I used Lincolnshire Poacher
Melted butter

Carefully unfold your filo and have the melted butter standing by. In a flan tin or pie plate, build up your layers of filo, leaving half the filo sheet flopping over the tin - this will be the lid of the pie. Brush each laid out sheet with the butter so that it the sheets adhere.
Now add your layers: gammon, then onion, then tomato. Beat the eggs together with a slurp of cream, and pour this over the meat and veg. Add your handful of cheese over the top. Now fold over the filo, again brushing with butter. Bung into an oven at gas mark 6 for around half an hour.

This was my pie just out of the oven. Dan recommends some potato accompaniment - I had some left over Jersey Royals, which I fried in walnut oil. And my usual garden salad.

The pie was delicious, and there's more left for lunch today. Nice one, Dan!

5 comments:

meemalee said...

I've never used filo pastry before but now I'm tempted - lovely, flakey pastry ...

Dan said...

Thanks for the mention Fran!
What a fantastic variation on the recipe. I'd have never thought of using Filo. It looks delicious.

I think that's one of the most satisfying things about cooking, using up leftover bits and bobs to make something tasty.

goodshoeday said...

I saw Dan's pie in passing yesterday and it looked great, I love your leftovers variation as well. Filo pastry is great isn't it? We used it for a layered chicken, spinach and mushroom pie recently. Yum. And I'll be keeping Dan's pie and your variant in mind when leftover cooking.

franmouse39 said...

meemalee - I've only recently started using filo, and I'm amazed at how flexible it is. Just add lashing of melted butter.
Dan - thank you for such an inspiring recipe! As you said, it tastes just as good cold.
goodshoeday - thank you! Yep, I'm a big fan of filo now. I love the way that it's such a lazy alternative if I don't fancy making pastry from scratch, slob that I am.

chow and chatter said...

what a pie