Like most I was obsessed with The Great British Bake Off this year, an X Factor but with cake, what’s not to love??? So you can imagine how happy I was to get my hands on the British Bake Off cookbook and I was not disappointed.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has even the remotest interest in baking, it’s full of tutorials and recipes from the programme and I am in love with it. Tutorials and pretty pictures are all very well but of course I had to do a couple of checks just to make sure the recipes worked... :)
If you watched the programme you might remember that during pie week Holly made an insane looking potato pie? Now I’ve never really eaten a potato pie and I have to say that despite the thing looking delicious I was a little dubious...Potatoes wrapped in pastry? Now that’s a complex carbohydrate if ever I’ve heard one. You’ll be pleased to hear that I was able to put my reservations to one side in order to try it and oh am I ever glad I did! Potatoes, caramelised onions, stilton, gruyere, cheddar... Yes! Oh very yes!
Being a book about baking, the original recipe involves making your own pastry but I was short on time so bought the pastry...so I’ll write it up the way I did it!
(I cannot recommend this pie highly enough, mine was finished by four people in one sitting! That could however say more about us than it does about the pie...)
Ingredients:
1 packet of puff pastry (I find pre-rolled stuff to be most excellent)
2 medium onions
30g butter
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1kg waxy/salad potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
100g stilton, crumbled
100g gruyere cheese, grated
140ml crème fraiche
60ml double cream
100g mature cheddar, grated
Freshly grated nutmeg
Black pepper
1 large deep pie dish
Method
Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7.
Start by putting the onions in a frying pan with the butter, salt and sugar and fry on a low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 15minutes or until lightly caramelised. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Meanwhile cook the potatoes in boiling water for 8 minutes. Drain carefully and set aside.
Combine the stilton and gruyere in a bowl. In another bowl mix together the crème fraiche, double cream and cheddar.
Layer the filling in the pie dish, working from the outside of the dish into the middle to achieve a domed effect. For the first layer use one-quarter of the potato slices, one-third of the onions and one-third of the stilton mixture, seasoning with nutmeg and pepper. Then make two more layers, each using one quarter of the potato slices, one-third of the onions, one-third of the stilton mixture, half of the cream/cheddar mixture, and nutmeg and pepper to season. Top with the rest of the potato slices and season with nutmeg and pepper. Ensure that none of the cream mixture is visible from the top.
Apply an egg wash around the rim of the pie dish. If using pre-rolled pastry, un-roll it and place over the top of the pie. Or roll your pastry out and do the same. Trim the edges and use a fork to press them down. Brush the whole pie with egg wash. If you wish, cut a decorative shape for the pastry trimmings and stick to the pastry lid with egg wash; brush the shape with egg wash. Cut a good-sized cross into the top of the pastry lid to let steam escape during baking. (I may or may not have forgotten this important step and been forced jab wildly at the pie with a knife halfway through cooking...)
Set the pie dish on a baking tray and bake for 30 minutes. Then turn the oven down to 180°C/gas mark 4 and bake for a further 25 to 30 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and golden. Serve hot.
