A recipe by Gary Rhodes
This delicious savoury pie holds a combination of classic British flavours, the bacon going very well with the onions and apple. It makes a tasty and filling main course! The flavours don’t just stop there. Also added is some freshly chopped sage to the onions, along with a drop or two of cider to the cooking stock. For this recipe, either top the pie with puff pastry but shortcrust can also be used.
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients: 1 ½ lb (675g) streaky bacon; 2 oz (50g) butter; 3 onions, sliced; 1 dsp freshly chopped sage; 4 apples, peeled, cored and sliced; Pepper; ½ pint (300ml) cider; ¼ pt (150ml) chicken stock; 8oz (225g) puff pastry; 1 egg, beaten
Method:
- Cut bacon into 1 in (2.5cm) pieces. Heat 1oz butter in a frying pan and fry onions until golden. Mix in the sage. In a 2 pint (1.2 litre) pie dish, layer the bacon, onions and apples. Repeat until all these ingredients have been used up. Season with a twist of pepper and pour over the cider and stock. Dot the top with the remaining 1oz (25g) butter.
- Roll out pastry, then cut out narrow strips to put round the edge of the pie dish and a “lid”. With beaten egg, brush the edge of the pie dish, the pastry strips and the edges of the pastry lid. Press the pastry strips into position then sit the pastry lid on top. Crimp the pastry edges together and trim off any excess.
- Brush the pastry top with beaten egg and then refrigerate pie for 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 200oC / 400oF / Gas mark 6. Place pie in the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes until golden brown.
Visit my shop to download this and 9 other Ham, Gammon and Bacon recipes in the Ham, Gammon & Bacon Volume 1 book. A recipe card is also available for download here.