Bacon and Egg Pie was a total family favourite at our place. The perfect hand held breakfast/ morning tea/lunch/afternoon tea for a fishing trip out on the boat and something I still make regularly. I can’t fish without bacon and egg pie! Cook it the day before. Heat it up in the morning. Wrap it in tinfoil and then tea towels and it will still be warm to devour with rod in hand! This recipe is inspired by my Aunt Kathie with her secret ingredients - celery and Worcestershire sauce.
I’ve added chorizo to the bacon mix but just double the bacon amount if you’d rather stick to the more traditional recipe. You don’t have to make the puff pastry of course, but if you have the time and a spare pound of butter hanging around it is most satisfying and of course just that little bit more delicious.
HOME MADE PUFF PASTRY
INGREDIENTS
3 c flour
475 g very cold butter (yes! that’s nearly a whole pound!)
¾ c cold water
½ tsp salt
METHOD
Cut butter into 4 pieces lengthways then cut each block into ¼ inch slices.
In a bowl toss butter in flour and salt till well coated.
Add water, mix lightly and form into a ball. There will be large lumps of butter visible and this is perfect!
Freeze for 20 minutes.
(If you are using store bought puff pastry you can ignore this step.)
THE FILLNG
INGREDIENTS
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 chorizo sausage, sliced thinly
2 large rashers of shoulder bacon, rind removed and chopped in large pieces
1 onion diced
4 cloves garlic minced
I celery stick finely sliced
1 red pepper, cut in strips
5 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Fresh parsley and basil
8 eggs
½ tsp salt
Ground black pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 c tasty cheese
METHOD
Heat olive oil in your Ironclad Pan and fry bacon and chorizo till crispy. Remove meat from pan, saving the delicious oil left behind and in this, sauté onion, garlic, celery and red pepper till sizzly and lightly browned. Add Worcestershire sauce and fry till sauce has reduced and nicely caramelized. Stir in chopped fresh herbs and cool. Clean your pan and pop it in the fridge or freezer till you need it later.
NOW
Remove pastry from freezer. If it’s really hard bash it a few times with your rolling pin to loosen it.
Now the fun begins.
Sprinkle bench top with flour.
Roll out to rectangle about 12 inch long and 6 inch wide.
Fold left hand side to middle. Fold right hand side over the top. So now you have three layers of pastry.
Roll out to rectangle as above.
If you need to dust more flour at any point do as butter may stick to your rolling pin. Just don’t use too much.
Rotate 90 degrees and repeat process 5 to 6 times. The more you do it the more layers of crispy deliciousness you will achieve.
Cut into two pieces one for the top and one for the bottom, shape with your hands gently into rounds and refrigerate for one hour.
FINALLY
Preheat oven to 175°C.
Spray Ironclad Pan with olive oil spray.
Flour the bench lightly and roll out pastry into two rounds. One for the bottom that is larger and drapes a little over the edge. And one for the top that is slightly smaller.
Sprinkle cheese on bottom of pastry. Followed by meat and veges. Break 5 whole eggs on top and nestle gently into the meat. Beat remaining eggs together with paprika, salt and pepper and pour over the top.
Lay remaining piece of pastry gently over the top and using egg yolk bind the bottom and top pastries together. Using a knife trim the pastry level with the top of the pan and using a dinner fork press the edges together.
You will have a little left over pastry that you can save and make something sweet and delicious with later on…
Prick top of the pie with the fork.
Cook for 25 minutes, then turn heat down to 160 degrees and cook for another 15 minutes till the pie is risen and golden brown and unbelievably tasty looking.
Let it sit for 5 minutes and serve. Can you believe you made this yourself?!
