Gill and I have been watching a BBC program, The Victorian Farm, where three people are recreating the life on a Victorian farm. Fascinating stuff, made more interesting that we sit in the Victorian part of a 400 year old house watching it. A house that was once four cottages (hovels), probably lived in by farm workers.

Last week the program featured a pie called “Fidget Pie”, possibly named after its shape. I looked up the recipe on the web and tried it:

Ingredients
3 - 4 medium potatoes, peeled and finely sliced
2 onions, sliced
2 cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
3 pieces of sweetcure gammon, derinded and cut into strips
1½ oz butter
2 teaspoons brown sugar
salt and black pepper
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
5 fl oz pork or vegetable stock
8 oz shortcurst pastry
Milk or beaten egg to glaze

Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180C
Lightly fry the potates, onions and apple until just golden. Remove with a slotted spoon.
Put the gammon into the pan and lightly fry in the remaining fat.
Layer the gammon and potatoes, onions and apples into a 2 pint pie dish, seasoning with sugar, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Pour on the stock.
Cover with the pastry (leave a hole for the steam). Glaze with milk or egg.

Bake for 30 minutes, reduce the temperature to 170C and bake for a further 10-15 minutes or until the pie is golden brown.

NOTES: In the program, Ruth Goodman made a hot water crust pastry that covered the whole pie (like a pork pie). She said that cheap metal pie dishes didn’t exist until later in the Victorian period. I liked the taste (very simple, the nutmeg gave it an interesting twist),

Tags: main meal

I found this one on the BBC Food web site, it's by Jill Dupleix and is very simple and delicious.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon olive oil per pie
1 thin slice of ham per pie
1 large egg per pie
1 dab cream
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
grated parmesan

Method

Heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4
Lightly oil each of the moulds and line the bottom and sides with the thin ham
Break an egg into each mould, drizzle with cream, scatter with salt and pepper and parmesan
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until each egg is just set and starting to shrink away from the sides of the tin
Leave to cool for a couple of minutes
Remove from the mould by putting a knife around the edge of each mould to loosen

Tags: snack