25 Jan Bacon and Egg Pie: perfect picnic fare

Bacon & Egg Pie is perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner – and, great served at room temperature, it makes for an ideal picnic fare. Best of all, the ingredients will be on hand in a well-stocked fridge.  Best of all, the ingredients will be on hand in a well-stocked fridge. You can make your own pastry if you like, but  I use Carême ready rolled pastry, which I always have in the freezer. Not being a pastry expert, I find it easiest to handle if I roll it out between pieces of baking paper. I use chives because they’re in my herb garden, but any soft herbs – such as parsley, chervil, thyme or French tarragon – work just as well.   Roberta Muir

Ingredients

• 450g shortcrust pastry, rolled
• Butter, for greasing
• 10 eggs
• 1x200g piece pancetta*
• 2 tbsp chopped chives
• Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• *I prefer pancetta to bacon as I find it crisps up quicker, but you can use either.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220°C.
2. Place a 23cm spring-form cake tin upside down on top of the pastry and cut around it to create a pastry circle. Place the circle on baking paper and refrigerate until needed.
3. Butter the cake tin.
4. Roll the remaining pastry to about 30cm square and use it to line the cake tin, folding pieces over each other as needed and leaving any long bits hanging over the edges. Refrigerate until needed.
5. Whisk 1 egg and set aside.
6. Slice pancetta thinly and cut into matchsticks. Place in a frying pan over high heat and cook for a few minutes, stirring often, until crisp.
7. Distribute half the bacon over the base of the pastry and scatter half the chives over the top.
8. Break the remaining eggs on top so the yolks are evenly distributed in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
9. Scatter the remaining bacon, any bacon fat, and chives over the top.
10. Pour over most of the whisked egg, leaving just enough to brush over the pastry.
11. Gently press the pastry lid into the tin on top of the filling. Fold the overhanging sides of the pastry over the lid.
12. Cut a few slits into the lid to allow steam to escape.
13. Brush with remaining beaten egg.
14. Place in the oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 180°C and cook for a further 35 minutes or so, until golden and crisp.
15. Set aside in the tin to cool.
16. .Serve warm or at room temperature, cut into wedges.

You’ll find a print-friendly version of this recipe here, as well as a step-by-step video of chef Janni Kyritsis making his bacon and egg pie. For more picnic recipes, see here.

Roberta Muir is the author of four cookbooks, a certified cheese judge and Sherry educator, and a restaurant reviewer and cooking teacher. She also has a Master of Arts degree in Gastronomy. You can find out more about her via her weekly newsletter.