There is a love of anything wrapped in pastry in this house and it can be used to tempt smallest boy into the most surprising food. Picnics are a struggle as the objections to any greenery that makes a sandwich interesting are met with dismay (and worse) and his appetite is as large as his mouth is wide.
This is a great recipe for using up surplus breakfast ingredients or, as happened this week here, we missed a big Sunday brunch and had the bacon, sausage and egg left from our Essentials box by the time the next one arrived! If you want to sneak in healthy extras this leek and onion can be blended in a processor and carrot, swede, courgette can be grated. It depends on how worthy you are feeling!
The meat is packed in a pretty dense texture, so you may want to add in some breadcrumbs, which will also make budgets stretch that little bit more. The addition of a beaten egg will also lighten it up a little.
Hearty picnic pie
You need:
1 large quiche dish, 30cm diameter
1 pack shortcrust pastry or make your own by mixing 1 egg, 100g butter, 200g plain flour in a food processor until it all comes together in a ball.
4-6 eggs
sausages, removed from skins and mashed with a fork
bacon, rind removed
Dried herbs or finely minced chives, parsley, oregano - whatever you have to hand
breadcrumbs, grated vegetables
Divide pastry into 1/3 and 2/3 and roll out the larger chunk onto a well floured surface until a little bigger than the dish size. Roll the pin over the top, loosely, and gather the pastry as you go. Starting at the point closest to you, roll pastry over dish and flatten gently with fingers to mould against the sides.
Bake at gas 5 for 10 minutes.
While baking crust, mix together a pack of sausages removed from their skins with some dried herbs. If you don’t think there are enough to fill the dish, mix in some breadcrumbs or a pack of sage and onion stuffing.
Remove crust and cool slightly.
Tip in sausage mix and spread across base with your fingers. use the end of a rolling pin to dent the mix in 4-6 places around the edge and in the centre.
Roll remaining pastry to the size of the dish, plus a little more.
Crack eggs into the indents in the sausage mix and layer bacon across the top. Roll pastry to make the lid , roll the pin across it gathering the pastry loosely as you go and place across the top of the pie.
Turn over the edges, press with fingers and then with a back of a fork to seal. Prick in several places to allow steam to escape.
Brush with egg or milk and bake at 180, gas 5, 350 for an hour. Check progress, you will probably need another 10-15 minutes.
Leave for at least 15 minutes to cool before removing from dish. Wrap in a couple of tea towels and take to the beach - it will stay warm enough for a couple hours.