Hairy Bikers Cheese and Onion Pie

Hairy Bikers cheese and onion pie wraps diced potato, onion, Lancashire and mature Cheddar in a lard and butter crust, baked free-form on a tray. So it’s a pie for 4 from British Classics, taking about 1 hour 40 minutes, at my estimate of around 1,125 calories a quarter.

Dave ate “two cheese and onion pies for breakfast every day” at college in Lancaster, and this is their new version of an old favourite. With no cheese sauce, the diced potato and onion are simply mixed with two grated cheeses and a beaten egg.

Flatten the filling to about 2cm high and leave a border of at least 2cm, because this pie bakes without a tin to hold it. Then brush that rim with egg and fork the edges firmly, so I’d expect melting cheese to stay inside, not run onto the tray.

Hairy Bikers Cheese and Onion Pie

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Baking Cuisine:British Courses:Dinner

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 30 minutesCook time: 38 minutesRest time: 30 minutesTotal time:1 hour 38 minutesServings:4 servingsCalories:1125 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

Diced waxy potatoes get three minutes once the water is back on the boil, and the onion joins them for the last one. Then a 25cm pastry round takes the cooled filling, a bigger round covers it, and it bakes for 30 to 35 minutes.

Ingredients

For the pastry

• 350g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• ½ tsp baking powder
• generous pinch of salt
• 100g butter
• 100g lard (or use 200g butter in total)
• 1 egg yolk
• cold water, to bind

For the filling

• 400g waxy potatoes, cut into 1cm dice
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 125g Lancashire cheese, coarsely grated
• 125g mature Cheddar, coarsely grated
• 1 egg, beaten
• sea salt and black pepper

To finish

• 1 egg, beaten, to glaze

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Instructions

1. Make the pastry: Pulse the flour, baking powder, fats and a generous pinch of salt to breadcrumbs in a food processor, or rub in by hand. Then add the egg yolk and just enough cold water to bind the dough. Then shape it into 2 discs, one a little larger than the other, and wrap and chill them until you’re ready to roll.
2. Blanch the potato and onion: Add the potatoes to a pan of boiling salted water and cook for 2 minutes once it’s back on the boil. Then add the onion for 1 minute more, drain thoroughly and leave to cool.
3. Mix the filling: Put the grated cheeses in a large bowl with the cooled potato and onion and the beaten egg for the filling. Mix thoroughly and season with salt and pepper, then preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6.
4. Shape the base: Roll the smaller disc out on a well-floured surface and cut a round of about 25cm, using a large dinner plate or cake tin base. Lift it onto a baking tray, then pile on the filling, leaving a border of at least 2cm, and flatten it to about 2cm high.
5. Lid and bake: Roll the larger disc out with the trimmings to cover the filling, then brush the border with some glazing egg and mould the lid over. Then seal the edges well, trim and press a fork all round, brush with the rest of the egg and cut 2 slits. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, then serve hot, at room temperature or cold.

FAQs

Is this the cheese and onion pie on BBC Food?

No, the one on BBC Food and hairybikers.com is a different recipe of theirs, also for 4, baked in a deep 20cm tin. And its sliced onions go into a sauce of flour, milk and double cream, with 150g of Cheddar, English mustard and cayenne.

Its pastry adds 50g of Parmesan and 2 tsp of baking powder to 450g of flour, and the base is blind-baked before filling. And almost the same cheesy pastry wraps their cheese and onion pasties, which make 6 or 7, in Perfect Pies.

Which cheese works best, and can I make it vegetarian?

Dave calls Lancashire and mature Cheddar “two great British cheeses”, and they go in half and half. But if you can’t get Lancashire, their Brilliant Bakes pie lists Cheddar, Caerphilly or Gruyère, which I’d take as a fair guide.

They allow 200g of butter in place of the butter and lard, which also makes the pastry vegetarian. But check your cheese too, because traditional Lancashire and Cheddar can be made with animal rennet, which is my note rather than theirs.

How is it different from their cheese and potato pie?

Their cheese and potato pie from Brilliant Bakes layers sliced, cooked potato with onion, herbs and 200g of cheese in a 20cm tin. And it serves 6, with self-raising flour in the pastry and an optional 2 tsp of Marmite whisked into the milk.

Then there’s their potato, cheese and onion pie in Our Family Favourites, with no pastry at all, just mash baked under Cheddar and tomato. And Si wrote that it was “one of my best mate’s favourite things to eat”.

Is there a James Martin cheese and onion pie?

Not that I can find, because a search for “cheese and onion” on his official site brings up no such pie. And the nearest is a mushroom, cheese, walnut and onion pie in filo, credited there to Marcus Wareing.

So the James Martin versions shared on Facebook and Pinterest aren’t from his site, and I’d treat them with caution. Or for an open potato and cheese bake of theirs, their homity pie fills a part-wholemeal crust with potato, onion, spinach and Cheddar.

Can I eat it cold, and how long does it keep?

Yes, because they write that it can be served hot from the oven, at room temperature or cold. And in the headnote, Dave rates cheese and onion as “an unbeatable flavour for a picnic”.

With no storage or freezing advice in the book, I’d keep leftovers covered in the fridge for up to 2 days. Or from the same picnic chapter of British Classics, their Cornish pasty bakes a raw filling of beef skirt, potato, swede and onion.