Dr Mobeus
Cheese and Potato Pie
Cheese and potato pie is honest, proper British cooking. No fancy techniques, no expensive ingredients – just potatoes, cheese and pastry baked together until golden and bubbling. At 54p a portion it is cheaper than a supermarket ready meal and tastes about ten times better. The key is getting the onion properly soft and sweet before it goes in – that is where the depth of flavour comes from. Ready-rolled pastry saves time and still costs only about £1.20. This is the kind of pie that makes you wonder why you ever buy pies from a shop.
Cheese and Potato Pie
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas 6. Boil the sliced potatoes for 5 minutes until just tender. Drain well.
- Melt the butter in a pan and gently cook the onion for 8 minutes until soft and sweet. Remove from heat.
- Mix the cooked potatoes, onion, most of the cheese, the milk and thyme together in a bowl. Season well with salt and pepper.
- Line a pie dish with half the pastry. Fill with the potato and cheese mixture, packing it in firmly.
- Brush the edges with beaten egg, then lay the remaining pastry on top. Crimp the edges with a fork, cut a small steam hole in the top and brush all over with egg wash.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until the pastry is golden and the filling is bubbling through the steam hole. Let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
Tips and Variations
Let the pie rest for 5 minutes before cutting or the filling will spill out. Add a handful of frozen peas or sweetcorn to the filling for extra veg. Any hard cheese works – cheddar, red Leicester or even leftover Stilton. This is also excellent cold the next day for lunch.
