Want to really spoil Dad on Father’s Day? We have the perfect dish for you. Egg and Bacon Pie will make him happy at breakfast, brunch, lunch or all three and it’s ideal for a picnic or even breakfast in bed.
We’ve found that just cracking eggs into a pastry base and then baking along with bacon gives a pretty dry result so we’ve mixed half our eggs with cream then folded in the remaining eggs to give a moist and slightly richer version.
We’ve added a layer of oven roasted tomatoes along with the bacon on the base of our pie but you can leave them out if you can’t be bothered.
For a gluten-free version we’ve used our Gluten-Free Cream Cheese Pastry but any pastry, purchased or home-made, gluten free or not will do just fine. Line your pie tin and blind bake the pastry the day before and you’ll be ready for quick action on Father’s Day morning.
We’ve made a lovely home-made cherry tomato sauce to accompany our Egg and Bacon Pie but we’re guessing that most Dads’ favourite tomato sauce is the one he buys in a bottle from the supermarket. Feel free to go with that.
Add a good cup of coffee or tea, and a glass of orange juice for breakfast, a beer or a wine or two at lunch and you’ll have a feast.
Happy Father’s Day.
Rosie
EGG AND BACON PIE
Serves 8-10
Start this recipe the day before if using oven-roasted tomatoes and Cherry Tomato Sauce
Pastry
1 quantity Gluten-Free Cream Cheese Pastry OR
Good quality purchased pastry
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Roll out pastry to 3-4 mm thick and line a 27cm diameter x 5-6cm deep tart tin with removable base.
Refrigerate until firm then blind bake. See here for blind baking instructions.
Oven Roasted Tomatoes
7-8 Roma tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon caster sugar
Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 150°C. Line an oven tray with baking paper.
Halve the tomatoes lengthways. Place on the prepared baking tray and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with sugar, salt and pepper. Bake for 1.5 hours or until they have reduced in size by about half but still have some remaining moisture. Allow to cool then roughly chop.
Filling
6 full rashers of bacon, diced
18 eggs
180 ml pure cream
Salt and pepper
50 gm parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Preheat oven to 200°C.
Fry the bacon until crisp. Allow to cool.
Sprinkle the oven roasted tomatoes, if using, and crispy bacon on to the base of the blind baked tart case.
Whisk 9 of the eggs together with the cream until well combined. Season with salt and pepper. Gently pour on top of the tomato and bacon in the blind baked tart case.
Crack the remaining 9 eggs into a bowl and pierce each egg yolk with a sharp knife. Stir, briefly, just to break the eggs up a little. Pour into the egg and cream mixture in the tart case and gently swirl around to combine.
Sprinkle the grated parmesan on top and transfer to the preheated oven.
Bake for around 35-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the centre is still a bit wobbly.
Allow to stand for 10 minutes before carefully removing from the tin and transferring to a serving platter.
Serve warm or at room temperature with your choice of tomato sauce.
Cherry Tomato Sauce
125 gm cherry tomatoes
Olive oil for drizzling
80 ml olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 400g tins good quality peeled tomatoes, pureed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Place cherry tomatoes in a baking dish and drizzle with a little olive oil. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the skins start to split and the tomatoes have softened a little.
Heat the 80 ml olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté gently until just beginning to colour.
Add the pureed, tinned tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring often until the mixture is thick , pulpy and unctuous, 20-30 minutes. Season to taste.
Allow to cool a little then stir in the roasted cherry tomatoes. Serve warm or at room temperature.