This pie is epic. It has possibly some of the best flavours you can ever imagine wrapped up in a gorgeous layer of filo pastry. It looks epic and it tastes epic.
I love the following foods: kale, bacon, feta, caramelised onion, eggs and cheddar. I also love pies. Combining the lot in one dish was one of the best ideas I ever had. I used Jamie Oliver’s idea for making a filo pastry pie in a frying pan, but super-sized the flavour quotient with my own ingredients.
It was also something of a necessity as after all the snow we’ve had, my kale plants on the balcony were starting to look just a little dog eared. I’d noted that quite a few kales had died at the allotment during the harsh weather, and as a few of mine were showing signs of giving up, I harvested three of them in their entirety.
This is how you make the Epic Pie:
Ingredients:
1 pack filo pastry
3 eggs
300g feta cheese
100g cheddar cheese
2 large onions
50g sugar
400g kale
8 rashers of smoked bacon
Salt
Cracked black pepper
Rosemary
A knob of butter
Olive oil
1. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Chop the onions finely and add to the pan along with the sugar. Stir every so often until the onions begin to brown a little, and then add the bacon, chopped.
2. Continue to stir the bacon and onions as the onions caramelise. This should take about ten minutes – you need to have it cooking for at least seven minutes to ensure the bacon is properly done.
3. In the meantime, melt a little butter in another saucepan and throw in the kale. Season with a pinch of salt and cook for just a minute or two until wilted.
4. Lay out a square of greaseproof paper that’s about 1ft x 1ft. Brush it lightly with olive oil, and then layer the filo pastry sheets on top of it, brushing a light layer of olive oil over each layer until there are four layers.
5. Beat the eggs in a bowl, and then crumble in the feta and a stalk of rosemary. Pour in the cooked ingredients and stir until they are distributed well throughout the mixture.
6. Ease the greaseproof paper and the pastry into frying pan and pour all the ingredients in. Place on the hob for five minutes at a medium heat so that the mixture starts to cook.
7. Fold the pastry over the top of the pie until the ends meet and cover the mixture. You can now trim the excess greaseproof paper away. Then place in the oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.
8. Serve hot with a large salad and tomatoes. This is a wonderfully intense pie, and you’ll find a little goes a long way.
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elise agnelle
thank your for that recipe, I’ve got to try it asap
yum yum!