A surprise pie!

I had some bacon and eggs in the fridge, but felt like doing something other than frying, and the result was very pleasing and provided a lovely bachelor meal and tasty work lunches to boot. I can hardly wait to run it by the boys!

I’m new to the pie game, but I’m getting better at it. And so far - the boy test has been ok.

Generally you use a short crust pastry for the bottom and puff for the top, but this time I used puff all around, and really enjoyed the result.

Recipe - Bacon and egg pie

Ingredients

• 2 sheets puff pastry
• 4 rashers bacon, rind removed
• 5 eggs
• 1 onion
• 1 red capsicum
• .5 cup grated mild cheese
• .25 cup crumbled stilton (or other blue or bighty cheese)
• 1 handful green beans
• 2 tablespoons chopped shallots
• 2 birds eye chilies, chopped
• ground pepper and cumin to taste
• Butter for greasing the pie tray

Method

Preheat oven to 180º. Grease a 25cm (or there abouts) pie dish with butter.

Take 2 sheets of puff pastry and allow to thaw (no, I’m not quite up to making my own pastry yet)

Chop bacon, onion, capsicum and beans. Place in a cold frying pan on medium to low heat on the cooktop. This allows the bacon fat to render out and the flavour to distribute nicely. Sauté for 10 minutes. (If you’re feeling lazy, you can just pile everything into the pie and cook, but the result isn’t as good)

Place a sheet of pastry into the pie tray and trim the edges with a sharp knife. Stretch the pastry out a little so that there is some extra over the sides (the puff pastry will shrink a little in the oven).

Place the pie tray and pastry base in the oven for 10 minutes. By this time, the pastry will have ballooned up, but that’s ok. Poke of few holes in and pat it back down flat, then add mixture from frying pan.

Sprinkle cheeses over the top.

Take one egg and whisk in a small bowl.

Crack the other 4 eggs over the top of the pie mixture. Sprinkle chilies and shallots. Season with pepper and cumin.

Top with the second sheet of puff pastry.

Trim with a sharp knife and brush the pastry with the egg mixture to that it glistens. This will help the pastry go golden and crispy. With a fork, poke holes in the pie lid to allow steam to come out.

Return to the pie to the oven and cook for 40 minutes.

Remove when golden!

Lamb two ways

A rainy no-child Sunday begins with a hangover and a bus ride to Marrickville Market.

I love cooking and shopping with my boys, but I struggle to find the right balance of doing jobs and needfuls, and just hanging out, playing games and reading, and going on adventures. I suppose that, over any 2-month period, you do all of those things, you can’t be too bad a dad…

This week, I’m cooking ahead with a leg of lamb from Marrickville Market’s Young Lamb Man. Young is here. Marrickville Market is here.

As you know, I like to butterfly a leg of lamb to retain the bones for stock, and marinate and barbecue for yiros.

Today, though, I tried to make the most of the two major cuts in a lamb leg - the shank, and everything else.

The shank I set aside for a bachelor soup or the slow cooker, while the rest I butterflied, rubbed with garden herbs, and tied into a roasting roll.

The roasting roll is now marinating in the fridge, with the shank tucked into the freezer.

The roast is a 3-boy dinner, with enough for school lunch wrap the following day. Super!

Recipe - easy carving herbed lamb roast

Ingredients

• Butterflied leg of lamb
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 2 sprigs sage
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• cooking twine for tying

Method

With a mortar and pestle (or blender) create a herb paste with the rosemary, sage, garlic and olive oil.

Lay out the lamb with the fat side down, and rub the paste into the lamb.

Roll the lamb and tie with cooking twine. Today, I used three butchers knots across, and one down the length, which works fine - but there are prettier, more elaborate ways to do it.

Place it, covered, in the fridge for a of hours (or overnight) in this case.

Remove from fridge about an hour before you plan to cook it.

Preheat oven to 200º.

Roast uncovered for 15 minutes. Drop temperature to 160º. Remove lamb from oven to baste with pan juices. Return to the oven for another 30 mins, basting again after 15 mins.

This should achieve a medium-rare roast, with lovely pinkish slices with a crispy crust.

If you prefer medium or well done, just add one or two extra 15 min cooking periods - but don’t forget to baste for each!

Remove from oven and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes before carving.

Butterflying lamb leg and removing the shank

Tying a butchers knot