Bacon & Potato Pie with Cheese & Green Onions

Versions of this seem to be popular in Great Britain (especially Scotland, perhaps no surprise) but also in northern Europe; France and Denmark in particular. What's not to like? It's full of greasy, tasty bacon and cheese, and carb-y potato goodness. Green onions, if you can get them (recommended!), or regular cooking ones if you can't, give it some pep. Look for as lean bacon as you can get; even so, this is going to be pretty rich. A nice green salad served on the side will help tone things down a bit and round out the menu.

As is now usual I par-boiled and chilled the potatoes the day before to reduce their impact on my blood sugar. Even if that is not something you worry about, it helps break up the work. As usual, even with the parboiling, potatoes take much longer to bake than seems reasonable, but otherwise this is a fairly simple thing to put together and looks quite fancy, at least until it is cut.

I'm calling for a little salt. I get a good local bacon which is not too salty at all, but if your bacon is salty, you may want to leave it out. There is the cheese to consider too. People can always add a little more at the table if they must, after all. 

4 to 6 servings
2 hours - 30 minutes prep time NOT including parboiling the potatoes

900 grams (2 pounds) large round baking potatoes
125 grams (1/4 pound) old Cheddar cheese
6 green onions OR 2 medium cooking onions
1 teaspoon rubbed savory
1/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
2 tablespoons potato starch
450 grams (1 pound) thinly sliced good lean bacon

Scrub and trim the potatoes, and put them into a pot with plenty of water to cover. Bring them to a boil and boil them for 10 minutes, then drain and cool them, and keep them refrigerated over-night. (You can use them as soon as they are cool enough to handle, if you like.)

Grate the cheese and put it in a mixing bowl. Wash, trim, and chop the onions finely. Add them to the cheese with the seasonings and potato starch, and mix well.

Arrange the bacon in a radiating pattern out from the centre of a 10" glass pie plate. About half the bacon will be hanging over the edges; excellent.

Slice the potatoes as thinly as you can, discarding any peel that comes off of them. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Arrange a single but slightly overlapping layer of potatoes over the bacon, then sprinkle on half of the cheese and onion mixture. Arrange another layer of potatoes over the cheese - this is the spot to use up the smaller and oddly shaped slices - then sprinkle the remaining cheese and onion mixture over them. Finish with a final layer of sliced potatoes.  Press the mixture down firmly and compactly. Fold the overhanging bacon back over the pie.

Bake for 1 hour and 10 to 20 minutes, until the potatoes test done when pierced with a fork. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving. It looks better unmoulded onto a serving plate, which it should do with careful handling. I found the slices I cut held together, but not particularly beautifully.





Last year at this time I made Beet, Lentil, Red Cabbage & Sprout Salad with Feta, Walnuts & Cranberries.

Posted in: Ontario Food