English Cheese and Onion Pie

[jackal10]

English Cheese and Onion Pie

While pissaldiere is excellent, an English cheese and onion pie is the other way up, with the pastry on top. Sometimes a plate pie with pastry and bottom, or even a cheese and onion pastie, with the pastry folded round the filling and crimped

• 8oz/250g cheese such as a sharp cheddar, grated
  
• Large onion or two, softened in a little butter
  
• 1 lb 500g potatoes, peeled, cooked and cubed or even mashed
  
• salt, pepper and a little mustard Season well, but remember the cheese is quite salty
  

Mix the filling together, put in pie dish. Top with pastry. Brush with egg glaze, bake until brown - 20 min 400F. Good hot, warm or cold.

You can use any sort of pastry - ordinary short crust, or even shop bought flaky puff pastry turned with some cheese, except that flaky tends to rise a bit much, but is spectacular. Rough puff is good.

If you are doing a plate pie with top and bottom crusts, you can omit the potato.

Some add eggs and cream to make a quiche like filling, but I think that is wrong.

You can add leeks, but that can make the filling watery. Bacon if not veggie...

Short crust/ Pate Brisee: 6oz/180g flour 4oz/ 120g unsalted butter.. pinch salt

Whizz together until crumbs. Add 2 tbs water and poulse until it forms into a ball. Let rest for half an hour. Or buy the ready made.

Rough puff: Same proportions Make the pastry as above with half the butter. Cut the rest into small cubes and and mix with the pastry. Give the pastry two or three turns - roll out, fold sides to middle, rotate by 90 degrees, roll out again, fold again.

Keywords: Potatoes, Cheese

( RG915 )