British Pie Week – Cheese, Bacon and Potato Pie. Today is the last day of British Pie Week 2025. I don’t know about you, but I am very partial to pastry. It can be elegant like cream filled choux pastry buns or satisfying like a traditional Cornish Pasty. However, my favourite use of pastry is the pie. Proper pies mind you with a pastry top and bottom. I love an apple pie, mince pies at Christmas time and savoury varieties. Whether it is a steak and ale, chicken and leek or today’s recipe, I am very happy when I have a slice of pie to eat.
This recipe is a family favourite. My youngest daughter loves helping in the kitchen. After I slice the vegetables she makes very neat layers of potato, cheese, and onion with some crispy bacon pieces. My eldest daughter loves the pie hot for dinner or cold in her school packed lunch. You can use a good, strong mature Cheddar or a crumbly cheese like Wensleydale or Lancashire.
British Pie Week
British Pie Week starts on the first Monday in March. The highlight is a competition where up to a thousand pies are tasted in Melton Mowbray, home of the celebrated pork pie. This year, a kebab-filled pie won a new fusion category, although I think I will stick to my conventional fillings. The competition has run now for seventeen years and there are categories for hot and cold and sweet and savoury pies. The fillings can be meat, vegetarian, and vegan friendly, they even include gluten-free pastry. The chief rule is a pie must have a pastry top and bottom, so it does not include potato topped Shepherd’s Pie or recipes like my Luxury Fish Pie.
Cheese, Bacon and Potato Pie
Equipment
- 1 Pie Dish
Ingredients
For the Filling
- 1 kg firm fleshed Potatoes such as King Edward or Désirée cleaned and thinly sliced
- 350 gr Mature Cheddar Cheese grated
- 6 rashers Smoky Bacon cooked and cut into pieces
- 2 large White Onion peeled and very finely sliced
- A heaped teaspoon fresh Thyme chopped
- Sea salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
For the Pie
- Ready-made puff pastry use an all-butter one if you can or shortcrust if you prefer
- 1 Egg beaten
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 350 F / 180 C / Gas mark 4 and on a floured surface, roll out the half of the pastry to fit an oven-proof pie dish.
- Carefully place the pastry into the greased dish and add a layer of potato.
- Season generously and top with onion, thyme, bacon and cheese. Repeat the layers until the pie dish is filled.
- Brush the edges with egg wash and top with remaining rolled out pastry, crimp the edges and brush the top with the rest of the beaten egg.
- You can decorate with any pastry off cuts if you want. Place the pie in the oven for forty-five to fifty minutes until the pastry is golden and cooked.
Notes
