I Made a Pie - Multi-Layer Sausage, Egg & Onion Pie
I made a pie because my sister gave me lots and lots of sausages.
Thirty-two to be precise, four different flavours, all great, all made in the farm shop where she works.
I was going to force feed the lovely Mr G until he popped, but didn’t know if his insurance would cover death by excessive sausage eating?
If not, maybe I should add that?
Anyway, I met with one of my sisters for the first time since lockdown, not for long, just for an hour during her lunch break, and came away with:
8 Black Pudding Sausages
8 Sweet Chilli Sausages
8 Pork & Leek Sausages
8 Chicken & Sun-Dried Tomato Sausages
As well as other things.
A she lives 2 ½ hours away from me, by the time I’d reached home I thought it best to turn them into something else, fairly quickly, and because of the amount of sausages, I went down the pie route.
Admittedly, quite a big pie, with layers of sausages, eggs and onions. I would have put more layers in, but even I don’t have a tin that tall.
Because of my lack of supersized tin, I had a difficult sausage dilemma.
Which flavour of sausage to leave out?
I chose to leave out the Chicken & Sun-dried tomatoes, no particular or calculated reason, just because!
You don’t have to use the same sausage flavours as I did, pick your own flavours and as many as you can fit in your tin. Or just go with the one.
Just adjust the cooking time to suit your pie depth.
Obviously, the thicker the pie, the longer it needs to be cooked for.
I started the cooking off with the pie covered with a hooded foil top, just so it wouldn’t burn because of the cooking time.
It’s easy to make one of these, just make a fold in a length of foil (like one-fold of a paper fan) and then loosely cover the top of the pie, making sure to open the fold out once the foil is secure around the tin.
Take the foil off 30 minutes before cooking time is up, so that the top gets a lovely golden brown.
Full disclosure here, the pie was way too much for the lovely Mr G and I to finish alone, although we did give it a good go.
I have a question though, If I can’t get the lovely Mr G insured for excessive sausage eating, maybe I can get it for pie overload?
Go on, give it a go
Enjoy Your Sweet Life
Multi-Layer Sausage, Egg & Onion Pie
Golden pastry loveliness
What You Need
24 flavoured sausages – split into 3 flavours of 8 – See Tip Box
6 Cold Hard-Boiled Eggs – peeled and sliced
1 large onion – thinly sliced
Margarine for greasing
Flour for tin preparation
Egg yolk mixed with tablespoon of milk for pie top
Try to keep the pastry as round as possible to make it easier to fit into the loose bottomed tin.
Pastry
500g Plain Flour
Pinch of Maldon Salt
300g Butter – cut into small pieces
4 Egg Yolks from large eggs – lightly beaten
Ice water – about 8-10 tablespoons-See Tip Box
Go crazy with the layers you put into your pie
How It’s Done
Golden and ready to cut into
Pastry
Put all the ingredients apart from eggs and ice water into a large bowl.
Add the butter pieces and “Cut” into the flour until the mix looks like fine breadcrumbs. – See tip Box
Once the butter has been “cut in”, add the beaten egg yolks and Iced water and mix together until it all comes together.
At this stage you might ned more iced water to bring it together.
Once together, wrap the pastry in cling film and set it into the fridge for 30 minutes to rest
Turn your oven in a heat to 180c
I love making a bit of a pattern out fo the leftover cuttings of the pastry Make it pretty
Putting it Together
Find your loose bottomed high sided tin, use margarine or butter to completely cover the inside. Dust the inside of the tin with flour too
Dust the work surface with flour
Cut off 1/3 of the pastry and set aside for the lid of the pie.
Roll the remaining 2/3 s of the pastry out to fit the bottom of the time – big enough so that there is an over-hang – See Tip Box
Gently place the pastry into the prepared tin and push it in to form the bottom of the pie.
Leave a nice over hang.
Take all of the sausages out of their skins and place the meat into individual bowls.
Line the bottom of the pastry lined tin with the first flavour sausage.
Add the next layer of onions, the next sausage, the next sliced egg the last sausage.
Roll out the left-over pastry and cover the pie and crimp the edges.
You can decorate the top of the pie with any off-cuts of pastry if you’re up for it.
Use a knife to cut three holes in the top of the pie.
Brush the pie with beaten egg and cover with the foil lid
Cook for 1 hour with the foil on, then remove the lid and cook for a further 25-35 minutes until the pie is cooked and piping hot all the way through and the top is a dark golden brown.
Remove from the oven and let it cool for 30 minutes before serving.
Layers of tastiness
Tip Box
Sausages – a) Use whatever sausage flavours you prefer
b) Depending n the depth and size of your’e tin, the amount of layers are up to you.
Filling Layers - Don’t limit yourself to eggs and onion for your’e layers. What about a layer of red pepper, red onion or even gherkin
Cut into – This is a term which means to cut the fat into the dry ingredients. You can either use your finger tips or a cutting in tool. I like the tools, as the less you touch the flour the less chance there is to make the pastry tough.
Pastry – a) The less you handle pastry with your hands, the better. Over handling result in a tough pastry. Use a blunt knife to cut in or a pastry cutter in tool. This pastry may be a little firm when it comes out of the fridge, when you start to roll it out, start by gently pushing down on the pastry to get it started.
b) Keep turning the pastry so that you end up with a circle which will make it easier to line the tin with.
c) Any leftover or off cuts of pastry, don’t waste it. Use it to make individual pies with any leftover sausage, or use what’s in your fridge for some surprise pies.
d) You can freeze the pastry that’s left over to use another time too.
Foil Lid - It’s easy to make one of these, just make a fold in a length of foil (like one-fold of a paper fan) and then loosely cover the top of the pie, making sure to open the fold out once the foil is secure around the tin.
Oven – All ovens vary so adjust cooking times accordingly.
Perfectly crisp pastry
