Bacon and egg pie is a classic New Zealand comfort food. Every home cook has their own variation. The influence that most shaped this pie would have to be my mother.
A dose of nostalgia about eating bacon and egg pie was triggered by a Guardian article by Margot Henderson. This recipe owes a lot to Margot’s version, and in turn, is true to my memories of how my mother made this dish. I changed things a little… I had pancetta on hand so I used that instead of bacon. Also added green onions, as not only do they provide a bit of colour, they work so well with eggs and tomato.
When preparing to write up this recipe, I searched for other versions of a bacon and egg pie – New Zealand version. A very diverse selection indeed. The original has to be this recipe from the infamous Edmonds cookbook (every New Zealand home had a copy of the Edmonds Cookbook). It did remind me of a condiment I had forgotten about – tomato sauce (aka tomato ketchup). This roasted tomato sauce would have worked even better. Next time.
Pancetta costs more than bacon. There is a reason for that of course. Bacon is bold, whereas pancetta has some subtlety and elegance. I love them both. But do try to get quality smoked bacon, not just chemically treated pork that gets labelled as bacon. This really does make a significant difference.
These quantities and instructions perfectly suit a 20cm square baking dish. Scale your bacon and egg pie – NZ version accordingly.
Bacon and egg pie
Ingredients
- 8 eggs
- 1 egg yolk whisked
- 2 large tomatoes
- 1/2 cup green onions finely diced
- 250 g pancetta or bacon. About 8 rashes
- 325 g flaky pastry aka puff pastry. Normally purchased frozen
- 10 g butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 degC
- Remove the stalk of the tomatoes, and slice.
- Roll out 2/3 of the pastry into a square with a thickness of several millimeters. It should be about 35 cm square.
- Roll out the other 1/3 into a 20cm square, and cut into strips.
- Smear the butter around the inside of a 20cm square baking dish.
- Lay the 35 cm square piece of pastry into the baking dish. It is OK if it extends above the edges, as it will shrink a bit.
- Bake in the oven until it starts getting a little crisp and puffing up.
- Remove from the oven.
- Lay half the prosciutto on top of the pastry.
- Lay half the sliced tomatoes on top of the prosciutto.
- Break 4 of the eggs on top of the tomatoes.
- Sprinkle half the green onions over the eggs.
- Repeat with the other half of each of these ingredients.
- Top with the strips of pastry in a pattern of your choosing.
- Brush with the whisked egg yolk.
- Bake in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes, until the pastry crisp and golden.
- Rest for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
Bò kho gyoza (aka beef gyoza or beef curry dumplings)
»