We had been looking after my girlfriends family pet, Bella, while she and the family had gone camping.

(We have a ‘no dogs on the sofa’ rule at our house – you can imagine the indignant looks by the other pets when they saw this special treatment!)

Catherine suggested lunch to catch-up and pick-up Bella – I thought ‘Bacon & Egg Pie’!

Catherine re-married a couple of years ago to a really nice ‘Kiwi bloke’ who loves his food so I knew that this would go down a treat with him. Not to mention a certain teenage son who as we all know take some filling up. The girls in the group would be quite happy with a chicken salad.

Bacon & Egg Pie has been made by mums and grans all over New Zealand for years, and in my family this was certainly no different. My mum always added her homemade tomato relish into the mix, and even peas I remember. For me I like my pie to be quite simple, and this recipe is just that!

Ingredients:

• 3 medium new potatoes, diced
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup cream ( not so healthy but worth the indulgence)
• 1 glove garlic,crushed or chopped
• 1 medium onion, peeled & chopped finely
• 4 rashers of bacon, chopped
• A handful of baby spinach leaves
• 300g flaky pastry -(store bought from the freezer!)
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• Salt & Pepper

Preheat the oven to 185C.

And then pop the potatoes into a pot of salted water and cook for about 15 minutes, or until they are just tender. Drain and set aside. (I used new seasons potatoes which are just yummy right now and scraped them rather than peel…much nicer)

Whisk 4 of the eggs with the cream and season well.

Heat the oil in a pan to sauté the onion & bacon and garlic for 2-3 minutes or until softened & coloured.

Add the spinach leaves and toss through with the heat OFF.

Line the plate using 3/4 of the pastry and trim neatly. Cut remaining pastry into strips for the finishing touches.

Pop the potatoes in the base of the pie plate, adding the bacon mixture and then pouring over the egg mixture. Reserve 1 tablespoon for use next. Cut the two remaining eggs over the top piercing them to let the yolks run all over!

Top with the pastry strips (can be a little tricky but perfection is not the aim with this!) with the reserved egg mixture. Grind some black pepper over the top.

Bake for 40-45 minutes in the oven until the pie is set and the pastry is puffed and golden. Cool slightly before slicing.

Serve with a nice green salad ( or in my case this week with a bottle of tomato sauce).

Serves 6-8

 

Happy cooking!

x