Ham meal no 2 - Ham, egg and pepper pie with a half wholewheat crust

Having much ham and sauce remaining for the second night, I decided to ignore Neil's pleas of a copycat meal (something I can't stand) and made a pie instead.

Recipe : Crust 

1 cup wholewheat flour

1 and 1/8 cup all purpose white flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces

1/2 cup water

Place the flours, salt and baking powder in a bowl and rub the fat into the flour with your hands until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Pour the water into the mixture and mix together with a knife until it starts to come together, then use your hands to shape into a ball that leaves the sides of the bowl clean. Add a little more water if it's too dry. 

Cover the pastry in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll out on a well floured surface to a circle about 1/4 inch thick. Butter a pie tin, line with some wax paper then butter again. Preheat the oven to 450oF.

Place the circle of pastry in the tin and press in with your fingers. Cut off any overlap, (there should be lots for your lid) and place a piece of aluminium foil into the tin. Pour some dry beans or rice into the tin on top of the foil and bake 'blind' for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, remove the foil and beans and set aside until time to fill.

Filling

1/2 cup leftover cooked ham, cut into chunks

1/2 onion, peeled and sliced

1 bell pepper, seeded and sliced

6 mushrooms, sliced

a handful of kale, shredded

leftover leek sauce, about 3/4 cup, (see recipe for baked ham on main page)

salt and pepper

2 eggs, hard boiled and sliced

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan over medium heat and add the onion, bell pepper, mushrooms and kale. Fry together until the vegetables are softening and the kale has wilted a little. 

Add the leek sauce, season with salt and pepper and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated and you have a fairly thick sauce.

Pour the filling into the pastry case (baked 'blind' as in above) and spread out evenly with a spoon. 

Lay the egg over the top and then lay your final piece of pasty rolled out into a circle over everything, sealing the edges with a little water. Make a small incision at the top and bake for around 20 - 25 minutes at 450oF.

The pie is good hot or cold, served with a simple salad. Neil suggested I use gelatin next time to give the pie more substance and texture, something that is very common in British pies, especially the classic pork pie. I'm not against this as such, but have a slight problem with the gelatinous, jelly like texture that this ultimately produces. I'm OK with jello and panna cotta, but would never spread the 'dripping' like goo from meat on toast as I have seen many people enjoy, even my own mum and dad. I may try it next time to please the man.