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Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie Recipe for British Pie Week

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Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie Recipe for British Pie Week

Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie Recipe for British Pie Week

Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie Recipe

British Pie Week

 British Pie Week

Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie Recipe for British Pie Week

Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie Recipe for British Pie Week

Everyone knows the old English rhyme “Simple Simon” and his pies, and I have to confess to being a bit of an extreme pie addict! There are extreme sportsmen (and women) as well as other professions where extreme comes into play, but an extreme pie person? Why not! So, what better opportunity is there then to make a pie for British Pie Week, it seems like a jolly good week to celebrate and bring on the pies is what I say! I have several pie recipes on Lavender and Lovage, if you would like to peruse them (with a view to making one) then here is a handy link to all my “under cover” recipes: Lavender and Lovage Pie Recipes. There are sweet ones, savoury ones, meaty ones, veggie ones, Wartime ration ones as well as festive ones……..there are traditional ones as well as ones with an air of modernity about them. The word pie is simply a magic word that conjures up delicious images for me. (yes, I know, that’s très sad!)

Simple Simon met a Pieman

Simple Simon met a pieman going to the fair;
Said Simple Simon to the pieman “Let me taste your ware”
Said the pieman to Simple Simon “Show me first your penny”
Said Simple Simon to the pieman “Sir, I have not any!”

Simple Simon went a-fishing for to catch a whale;
All the water he had got was in his mother’s pail.
Simple Simon went to look if plums grew on a thistle;
He pricked his fingers very much which made poor Simon whistle.
He went for water in a sieve but soon it all fell through;
And now poor Simple Simon bids you all “Adieu”

Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie Recipe for British Pie Week

Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie Recipe for British Pie Week

My pie offering is a bit of a stunner, well we think so in the Lavender and Lovage household! It’s a simple and traditional British style pie packed to the pastry rafters with mature Cheddar cheese, fluffy mashed potatoes, cream cheese and freshly grated onions. It’s baked in a British pie dish, that was very kindly sent to me from the lovely PR ladies who look after Mermaid Cookware, and is made from Hard Anodised Aluminium with a LIFETIME guarantee! The Mermaid Round Pie Dish I was sent is a generous (8 x 1½”) in diameter and depth and my pie just SLID out on serving it.  Ideal for baking crumbles and sweet or savoury pies, this Pie Dish allows four to six generous portions, and I did indeed manage to get six delectable slices of my “Say Cheese”pie from this pie dish. I give this pie dish a BIG thumbs up for its anti-stick qualities, style and that fact it’s made in Britain with a lifetime guarantee.

Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie Recipe for British Pie Week

My Say Cheese pie about to be popped into the oven!

Not only is this new pie recipe of mine tasty, but I like to think that it brings a bit of humour to the table too with its cheesy quotes in pastry letters! I made a batch of my mum’s shortcrust pastry for this pie, it’s a simple Be-Ro basic shortcrust recipe made with 8 ounces (225g) of flour with white vegetable fat (Trex) and margarine (Stork) in equal quantities to make up a total weight of 4 ounces (115g) of fat. I am quite proud of my pastry, as I apparently have a “light” hand and it always comes out crispy  light and flaky with a lovely short crumb. (My mum taught me how to make pastry and hers is amazing, so I suppose mine has to be fairly good!)

Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie Recipe for British Pie Week

Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie Recipe for British Pie Week

I served my “Say Cheese” pie with some fresh salad as well as some home-made Farmhouse Windfall Chutney that I made a couple of years ago; it’s wonderfully mellow now with spiced plum and pear flavours running through it, and I will share the recipe later on this year. You might have noticed the lovely blue dinner plates, well they are part of a wonderful 70 piece dinner, tea and breakfast service I received this week from Churchill China, with whom I will be working with from now on; the pattern is called Penzance, and I will be writing a full post all about my partnership with Churchill China this weekend.

The Caravan Trail - Penzance from Churchill China

The Caravan Trail – Penzance from Churchill China

But, back to my pie! This pie was made, baked and on the table in a little over three-quarters of an hour. It’s a real simple Simon kind of pie, with good quality ingredients and home-made pastry. By all means use ready-made pastry if time is REALLY at a premium, but although I tend to buy flaky or puff pastry, I nearly always make my own shortcrust pastry. The recipe for my Say Cheese Pie is shared below, and I can see this being an all year recipe for family tea, supper, light lunch, picnics, lunch boxes and casual dinner parties around the kitchen table. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did if you make it, and so let me know by leaving a comment below. I’ll see you later with more NEW recipes to share, including recipes for fish, the 5:2 diet and some baked treats for Mothering Sunday too, Karen 

Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie Recipe for British Pie Week

Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie Recipe for British Pie Week

Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie

Print recipe
Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie
Serves 6 slices
Prep time 15 minutes
Cook time 30 minutes
Total time 45 minutes
Allergy Egg, Wheat
Dietary Vegetarian
Meal type Lunch, Main Dish, Side Dish, Snack
Misc Child Friendly, Freezable, Pre-preparable, Serve Cold, Serve Hot
Occasion Barbecue, Birthday Party, Casual Party, Christmas, Easter, Formal Party, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Valentines day
Region British
By author Karen S Burns-Booth
A classic British pie made with Cheddar cheese, onions, cream cheese and potatoes, all encased in a crisp shortcrust case - pure heaven! Bring a smile to the faces of your family and try to cut out the letters to spell "say cheese", or decorate with pastry leaves and flowers. Perfect for picnics, lunch boxes and family suppers, this pie also freezes well.

Ingredients

  • 225g (8ozs) home-made shortcrust pastry (made with 225g flour and 115g fats)
  • 200g mature Cheddar cheese (grated)
  • 2 onions (peeled and grated)
  • 4 tablespoons cream cheese
  • 1 teaspoon English mustard powder
  • 6 to 8 tablespoons cold cooked mashed potatoes (or about 4 large potatoes, peeled, boiled and mashed)
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 free-range egg (beaten)

Note

A classic British pie made with Cheddar cheese, onions, cream cheese and potatoes, all encased in a crisp shortcrust case - pure heaven! Bring a smile to the faces of your family and try to cut out the letters to spell "say cheese", or decorate with pastry leaves and flowers. Perfect for picnics, lunch boxes and family suppers, this pie also freezes well.

Directions

Step 1 Pre-heat oven to 200C//Gas Mark 6. Grease a 20cm/8" pie dish/tin.
Step 2 Mix the grated cheese, grated onion, cream cheese, English mustard powder and cold mashed potato together, and make sure they are well combined. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste and set to one side.
Step 3 Roll out three quarters of the pastry on a lightly floured surface, until it’s large enough to line the pie dish/tin, with a little excess that hangs over the edges.
Step 4 Spoon the cheese and potato filling into the lined pie dish.
Step 5 Roll the remaining pastry so it sits over the filling. Brush the edges of the pastry with the beaten egg, and then lay the pastry over the top. Nip the edges together and trim with a knife. Crimp the sides with your fingers or with a fork, and brush the top of the pie with some beaten egg.
Step 6 Cut out decorative leaves, with any leftover pastry, or cut out the words "say cheese"! Brush with more egg and then place the pie on a baking sheet, and bake it for 30 to 35 minutes, or until golden brown. Leave the pie to rest for 5 minutes or so, and then cut it in slices to serve.
Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie Recipe for British Pie Week

Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie Recipe for British Pie Week

Basic Shortcrust Pastry

Print recipe
Basic Shortcrust Pastry
Serves 340g (12 ounces)
Prep time 45 minutes
Dietary Vegetarian
Meal type Appetizer, Lunch, Main Dish, Side Dish, Snack
Misc Freezable, Pre-preparable, Serve Cold, Serve Hot
Region British
By author Karen S Burns-Booth
Basic Shortcrust Pastry - my mum's recipe for shortcrust pastry which uses SR flour and not plain flour for a lovely light texture!

Ingredients

  • 340g SR flour (12 ozs)
  • 160g butter (6 ozs)
  • cold water (to mix, about 30ml)
  • pinch of salt

Note

Basic Shortcrust Pastry - my mum's recipe for shortcrust pastry which uses SR flour and not plain flour for a lovely light texture!

Directions

Step 1 Mix flour and salt in basin, rub in the butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Step 2 Using a knife to cut and stir, mix with cold water to form a stiff dough. Do not over mix, light of hand is best. Allow pastry dough to chill and "relax" for 30 minutes, in a fridge or a cool place, cover the bowl or put the pastry in some cling film.
Step 3 Turn dough on to a floured surface and knead lightly. Roll out and use as required.
Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie Recipe for British Pie Week

Say Cheese! Cheese, Onion and Potato Pie Recipe for British Pie Week

Disclaimer: With thanks to Mermaid Cookware who sent me a free pie dish to use and review; all opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positive review. Karen S Burns-Booth 

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Comments

  1. Fiona Matters says

    I love your pies. I am a total fan of your shortcrust pastry too – although gosh is it short! After last weeks pie I have had requests for more and this one sounds lovely. I do like the letters on the top too!

    Reply

      • Lisa Williams says

        I made my own and I must say I feel so pleased with myself hehe 🙂 and in homage to yours I made sure I wrote on the top of mine, it said pie !

        Reply

  8. Maya Russell says

    Looks yum. I’d like to have a go at making a pie. Can you use Trex as the white vegetable fat? (I need to make more food from scratch.)

    Reply

  9. Dominic says

    cheese pie used to be one of things that other kids hated at school but I always loved it and your really takes me back to those times… soo gooey and buttery and of course, cheesy… I love it!… I love the fact that it’s always some kind of ‘week’ in this country but I think pie week is probably my favourite!… your pictures are looking exceptionally good Karen xx

    Reply

  10. Fiona Matters says

    It has been decided that pie is on the menu tonight.and I will once again be using your fabulous pastry recipe. I do like the idea of slicing up onion to put inside too so might do that as well.

    Reply

  13. Elaine Towler says

    This was so gorgeous, My husband isn’t keen on Onions so I substituted these with sweated down leeks, and used double cream instead of cream cheese…lovely . My pastry was so short, melted in the mouth

    Reply

  14. Carol says

    This recipe sounds delicious… Another one to add to my list of ‘Must Bake Recipes!’
    I love your blog! 🙂

    Reply

  21. F Karbal says

    This looks like a delicious recipe to make when you’ve only got store cupboard basics – much better than resorting to a take-away when you’ve not had time to go to the supermarket

    Reply

  26. Judith Allen says

    I love cheese and potato pie, grated onion sounds a really good addition. Do you wear goggles to grate?

    Reply

  35. olivia kirby says

    tweeted this! yum! my friend always does pastry writing on her pies, she is way cleverer than me!

    Reply

  36. Jayne Sullivan says

    This looks good. I would love to recreate this using some strong Extra Mature Cheddar to give it that extra kick.

    Reply

  40. Susannah says

    I love your cheese and onion pie, so much! And I’m not the only one who likes it – I help to run a lunch club for elderly people with dementia, and they ask for this lovely pie again and again. I make the pastry with butter as they prefer it, but by gosh, what a stunner of a filling. Who ate all the pies!

    Reply

  41. Cheryl says

    Tried this recipe last night & loved it. My husband enjoyed it too even though he doesn’t like mash potato. Will definitely cook again, already have plans to cook for my mum-in-law when she comes to stay with leeks as was mentined in someone elses comment. Thanks for a great recipe

    Reply

    • Karen says

      Thanks so much Cheryl! It’s a firm family favourite here, and with leeks (as well as tomatoes on top) it’s also lovely. So pleased you liked my mum’s recipe, Karen

      Reply

  42. Sherry says

    I am planning to make this pie for my book group, as we just finished reading Silas Marner and potato pie is referenced in it. However, I am wondering about the potato measurement. 6-8 Tablespoons of potato seems like a lot less than what you would get from 4 large potatoes.

    Reply

  44. Vicky Ellks says

    Hi,
    Just wanted to let you know that this has now made it to #1 on our Lockdown pie list – was really simple to make as the instructions were clear, and the timings were spot on – it tastes lovely and rich. Also helped use up potatoes and cheese ends from the fridge, we swerved it with a simple side salad, froze a couple of portions, so no waste without having to eat the same dinner days in a row. Thank you 🙂

    Reply

    • Karen Burns-Booth says

      Hi Vicky
      I am so pleased to read this, and it’s great that a family recipe I grew up with is also a hit with you and your family too!
      THANK YOU so much for stopping by to let me know.
      Karen 🙂

      Reply

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