Globecooking recipe : Bacon & Egg Pie (New Zealand)

As you've probably heard if you're a regular reader of my blog, Madhouse Daddy sadly passed away a few weeks ago. When I came back to menu planning for me and the kids to try and get back to normality, I was at a bit of a loss. I love globecooking and Madhouse Daddy was always game for trying out my weird and wonderful concoctions, even when they sounded decidedly dodgy ! The Madhouse kids, on the other hand, not so much, and I frequently siphoned off their portions of meat and veg before adding the exotic sauces or spices. So, where to go from here? Well, I've found a compromise and have trawled through my bookmarked globecooking recipes, trying to find the most kid-friendly ones or working out how to adapt some of the others. So far so good !

Bacon and Egg Pie is a Kiwi classic and has a reassuringly familiar name and reassuringly familiar ingredients. Even so, it had a 50-50 success rate. I thought it was nice but a bit bland, Juliette loved it, Pierre wasn't keen (because of the peas) and Sophie thought it was OK but a bit dry and too many eggs ! The first mention I saw of Bacon and Egg Pie was on Carole's Chatter - as a genuine New Zealander, she posted a simple, no-fuss version, using frozen puff pastry, raw eggs, frozen peas and bacon (which looks more like UK ham). I had bookmarked this recipe years ago but never got round to making it. I was reminded of it when Not Quite Nigella shared her souped-up version, with a homemade sour cream pastry crust, hard boiled eggs, cheese and a whisked egg and milk filling making it more like a quiche. I combined elements of both to create my own version, so feel free to tweak it even more !

Bacon & Egg Pie

ingredients :

(serves 4)

1 pack frozen puff pastry

pack of bacon rashers

6 eggs

splash of milk

handful of grated cheese

handful of frozen peas

Use half of the puff pastry to line a pie dish. (I've downsized - if making a larger one you might need two sheets of puff pastry.) With hindsight, using foil to line the dish was a bad idea because it stuck to the pastry - baking parchment would be better. Fill with baking beans and bake blind for 20 minutes or so while you prep the rest and the oven is preheating to 180°.

Fry the bacon, drain on kitchen paper and cut each rasher into thirds. (Prepare for the kids to descend on the kitchen and eat several pieces before you shoo them away !) Boil two eggs for about 10 minutes. Crack the shells, leave to cool until you can handle them, peel and cut into halves.

Whisk together three eggs and a large splash of milk.

Take the pastry out of the oven and remove the baking beans. (Try to avoid making them ping all over the floor like I did !) Arrange the bacon pieces in the bottom. Scatter over the frozen peas and lay out the egg halves.

  

Pour over the beaten egg mixture. I also added one raw egg in the middle, to see how it would turn out. It does work so you could leave out the egg boiling and just use raw eggs cracked into the dish instead.

Scatter over a little grated cheese if you like.

  

Use the remaining half of the pastry on top. Seal the edges and brush with a little milk or egg yolk.

Serve cold as picnic or packed lunch food, or hot with mash and beans or salad.

*** Don't miss my country-by-country globecooking recipe index ***

Fancy trying some more Kiwi-inspired cuisine? How about a Kiwi Burger?

Adding to this month's #KitchenClearout linky as it used up lots of eggs and the end of a bag of grated cheese.


Linking up to the brand new World Food Linky over at Jess Eats and Travels