I definitely felt a whole lot of amore for this pie as soon as it came out of the oven. The pastry treat was put together following a special request for a birthday pie, unfortunately my busy writing schedule meant that the pie-making didn’t occur until a whole month after the birthday took place – but, it was definitely worth the wait. Luckily, the time lapse also gave me plenty of time to muse over appropriate fillings (a pie must be matched to the individual because beauty is in the eye of the pie-holder) and in the end I came up with this meaty Mediterranean treat.
Be warned; this pie is quite heavy – like a pizza it’s designed to be a meal in itself, so I served it simply – a warm slice with some rocket and spinach on the side. Baking it in a tray meant I had enough left over for two people to eat like a king every lunch time for a week, but it’s a great pie to make for a buffet and it’s easy to make vegetarian by omitting the cured meats. In total the ingredients only cost around ten pounds and you get at least 12 super slices out of it – bargain!
Recipe (makes one hefty tray of pizza pie slices)
2x 500g shortcut pastry (yes, I cheated on this occasion)
340g mild goat’s cheddar
200g half fat red cheese
Two medium red onions
3 eggs
400g tin chopped plum tomatoes
20 black pitted olives
Handful of frozen sliced peppers
1 large glug of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil
Squeeze of lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of dried basil
1 packet of sliced chorizo (about 140g)
1 packet of sliced pepperoni (as above)
1 tablespoon tomato puree
Pie Assembly
I wanted to achieve a nice layered effect with my pie, but I was also aiming for moistness without my pastry going soggy – a difficult task for a tray pie considering the ingredients I’d chosen – but the outcome was perfect! I’ve broken the assembly down into four stages, though I unfortunately don’t have any photos of the process as my camera is on the blink and my iPhone is less of a photographer than I am (the iPhone photo above doesn’t do the pie justice).
Stage 1: Getting saucy
To avoid the nice cool pastry going limp at the sight of the pizza sauce layer, I made my sauce first and then allowed it to cool before assembly. The sauce itself was a very rich and flavoursome take on a traditional tomato sauce found on pizzas. It was created by draining my chopped tomatoes and combining with the olive oil, olives (sliced), sliced peppers, garlic, balsamic vinegar and basil. Heating the sauce until it started to thicken into a paste I added a squeeze of lemon juice and the tomato puree towards the end to intensify the flavours.
Stage 2: Feeling cheesy
The cheese layer is based on my mother’s show stopping cheese and onion slice recipe, which I adapted to try and make it a little healthier. I actually used far less cheese than Ma Mere and used a combination of mild goat’s cheddar and 50% reduced fat cheese to lower the fat content. As well as having 40% less fat than normal cheddar goat’s cheese is much friendlier for people like me who are allergic to cow’s milk (and too much cheese!). I chopped up the two onions fairly small and put them into a mixing bowl before grating in all of the cheese and giving it a good mix round. I then seasoned with salt and pepper and added two whisked eggs – this binds the cheese and onion mixture together and makes for a nice melty and moist pie).
Stage 3: Going flat out
The nice easy bit! I greased my baking tray and rolled out my pastry to fit with a little extra to seal the ends. I then added the cheese layer and pressed it down with my fingers to get a nice even spread. Next, I spread the cooled pizza sauce on top using the back of a wooden spoon.
Stage 4: Nice to meat yer
Finally, I layered my chorizo and pepperoni on top, with slight overlap between each slice so that there was full coverage of the sauce underneath in order to prevent my pastry crust going soggy! I was very generous with the meat (I usually order double pepperoni pizza) but if you are vegetarian you could always use a thick layer of spinach or courgette slices instead. I sealed the pie by brushing a mixture of whisked egg and milk on the bottom layer and pressing on the crust. To finish I brushed the mixture on top for a nice golden glow and cooked at 170 in a fan assisted oven for about 35 minutes, brushing the lid a few more times for a good even colour.
Just like pizza the pie’s yummy cold!
