Egg And Bacon Pie

Our answer

Nigella's Egg And Bacon Pie (from HOW TO BE A DOMESTIC GODDESS) is a simple savoury pie with a filling of cooked pancetta, onions, herbs and eggs. It can be served warm or cold so is good for days like Boxing Day, when you may want to ease back on the cooking. The recipe ingredients include 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) of salted ice water. We would suggest using a large pinch of salt for the water and slightly less if you are using salted butter rather than unsalted butter. You could also stir the salt into the flour and fat mixture just before adding the water, rather than dissolving it in the water first. It is important that the water is thorougly chilled as warm water will start to soften the fat and the pastry will be less flaky.

Pancetta is cured and so adds quite a lot of flavour to the filling. Turkey tends to be a little more bland and we are worried that without the bacon the pie will be less interesting. However, if you have guests that can't eat pork then you could use cooked, shredded turkey but make sure that you season the filling very well and maybe add some extra spicing, such as some chopped chillies. For those that can eat bacon and would like to use up some cooked turkey, a half and half mixture of cooked pancetta and turkey may be a good option for the filling.