Sausage pie with a cheese scone crust

For this pie, I used a ball of leftover dough from a batch of scones I made one afternoon. As usual, I didn't use a recipe, but I did weigh the ingredients this time. It made an interesting shell: flaky, cheesy and slightly salty which balanced the sweet, spicy sausage filling well with apple, beet and onion slices to add some freshness to the dense sausage meat.

Recipe : Sausage pie

Cheese scone crust

8oz all purpose flour

4oz butter, cut into small chunks

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp mustard powder

1 tbsp minced fresh chives, parsley, oregano or thyme, (one or a combination as you choose)

2 cups grated strong cheese

about 6 tbsp water

Filling

4 sausages, whatever you prefer. (I used mild Italian)

1 onion, sliced finely

1 beet, peeled and sliced finely and boiled in water until soft

1/2 apple, cored and sliced finely

1 small bell pepper, seeded and finely sliced

1 - 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

To make the crust (and a batch of cheese scones with half the recipe if you want, if not, just halve the ingredients), first sieve the flour, baking powder, salt, black pepper and mustard powder into a large bowl and add the herbs, stirring well. Add the butter and rub into the flour with your hands until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the cheese, mix well and then add the water, starting with 2 tbsp. Stir the water into the flour and cheese and gradually add more until the mixture starts to come together and form a ball, leaving the sides of the bowl clean. Wrap the dough in cling wrap and set aside. (I refrigerated this as I would usually do and found it stiff and unworkable once chilled, having to let it sit and reach room temperature until I could use it. Therefore, my advice is not to chill at all).

Preheat your oven to 375oF and roll the dough into a circle to fit your greased and floured pie dish, either on a floured surface or between two pieces of cling wrap. Lay the dough into the dish, pressing it into the sides and bake blind for about 12 minutes, using dried beans, rice or ceramic beans inside, laid on foil. 

After 12 minutes, remove the foil and beans and prepare the filling.

Lay the onion into the bottom first, reserving one slice, followed by the sausage meat. Make sure you push the meat into all edges to cover the onion. Follow this with half the apple, the beet slices and then the remaining half apple. Top with the bell pepper and the reserved slice of onion. Drizzle over the oil, season with salt and pepper and bake for 25 - 35 minutes until the sausage is thoroughly cooked and the vegetables soft. You may find a lot of liquid has been released by the sausage which may make the pastry slightly soggy. To prevent this, carefully tip the pie over a sink, securing the top with your (protected) hand to pour the juice away. Remove the pie from the dish and serve cut in wedges with some chutney or brown sauce if you like.