Gammon and egg gala pie
- Snack
- Medium
- 10
- 2 hours 50 minutes
PT2H50M
A British pie classic made with gammon and fresh free-range eggs, beautifully seasoned and encased in a crisp, golden hot water pastry case – perfect for picnics
Ingredients
Hot water crust pastry
- 350g of plain flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 egg yolk , beaten with 1 tbsp of milk
- 3 tbsp of milk
- 4 tbsp of water
- 25g of butter
- 75g of lard, or white vegetable fat
Filling
- 350g of gammon , chopped then coarsely minced
- 4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon , roughly chopped then added to the gammon to be minced
- 1 tsp anchovy essence
- 1 tsp sage , dried
- 1 tsp ground white pepper , or less according to taste
- 1/2 tsp mace , or nutmeg
- 6 eggs , hard-boiled, ends trimmed of excess white
- 1 egg , beaten for egg wash
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6
2
To make the hot water crust pastry, melt the milk, water, butter and lard/vegetable fat together in a saucepan until boiling
3
In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt together. Make a well in the middle and add the egg yolk and milk, add the hot milk and fat mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until the ingredients are well blended and pastry is shiny. Cover with a tea towel and sit the pastry over hot water to keep it warm
4
To make the filling, mince the gammon and bacon together in a food processor until coarsely minced. Add the herbs, spices and seasoning and mix well
5
Take a 1lb (450g) loaf tin and place a double band of baking parchment across the middle of it, to act as a handle for lifting the pie out of the tin when it is cooked
6
Cut off two thirds of the warm pastry and put it into the tin, raising it up and moulding it with your hands to form a pie crust
7
Spoon half of the meat into the pie crust, pushing it down gently to make sure there are no gaps in the mixture. Place the eggs along the middle of the pie and top with remaining pie filling mixture
8
Shape the remaining piece of pastry to fit the top of the pie, reserving some pastry for the decoration and seal the edges with a little beaten egg and the tines of a fork to form a tight seal. Cut out a hole in the centre and brush with beaten egg
9
Cut out pastry leaves and other shapes and decorate the top of the pie with them. Brush with beaten egg once more and bake in oven for 2 hours, turning down the heat after 15 minutes to 180°C/gas mark 4
10
Remove the pie from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes before turning the pie out with the help of the baking paper lining. Place on a wire rack and allow to cool completely (for up to 3 hours) before cutting into slices to serving
11
Serve with salad, pickles, chutney, relishes and mustard. Any uneaten pie can be frozen in slices
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Gammon and egg gala pie
