Pie fest!

                                  WARNING:

This pie is delicious and you will probably want to devour the entire contents of the dish. However, the Syn value is quite high so, cook when you have 5 other people to feed or on a day when your will power can stand up to saying no to seconds (and thirds, and fourths…)!

 Pics: Before and after baking!

 

I have been glued to The Great British Bake Off and have looked longingly at the offerings every week whilst the voice in my head reminds me that my Syn allowance and my appetite cannot realistically stand up to eating everything they bake. I have managed to keep it down to around one bake a week so far and have very sensibly tried a bit and sent the rest off to various other people whose metabolism seems to be able to deal with them! This week however, I wanted to make a pie and I wanted to eat it and enjoy it. So, given the flexibility of Slimming World, I found a way to do it.

Holly has been one of my favourites since GBBO week one – seriously her piping is brilliant. She also seems (as per her blog) to be rather partial to lots of cheese and red wine – two of my failings. So, when I saw her Three Cheese, Caramelised Onion and Potato Pie, I knew I had to give it a go.

I had decided to eat the pie regardless of whether it fitted into the Slimming World plan – I wanted it and I could take the hit at weigh in that week and get back of the wagon the week after. However, on investigating matters further…minus the pastry, the pie works out at only 8 Syns per serving, if you follow the rules below.

The recipe can be found here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/three_cheese_potato_and_30007   

(I will also copy and paste below),

...but there are a few rules to enable us slimmers to eat it guilt free.

The Rules of Pie

• Have a Green Day. If you do, you can have a triple cheese day. OK, so if you’re having 7 Green Days in your week you probably shouldn’t be using cheese as 3 of your 4 healthy extras but a Green Day Sunday with triple cheese for Sunday lunch is OK in my book. Technically, if you want to do this right, you should use 168g of each of the cheeses but speaking as a cheese fiend, you really don’t need any more than the 100g specified in the recipe. If you’re very worried about not having 28g of each cheese, have a bit of extra milk and another bite of bread!

• Use reduced fat crème fraiche – I honestly can’t see that this would affect the end result that much.

• Add the Syns on for the pastry. There are 8 Syns in 28g of cooked flaky pastry. I would quite happily eat the pie without the pastry (but I didn’t!) as the filling alone is so delicious. However, for those of you who want to indulge and who understandably have better things to do than weigh piping hot flaky pastry, as I guide I would say if you remove and discard the heart shapes from the top of the pastry as you eat, you are left with 28g per serving.

• You MUST save some of your Syns from the rest of the week. If you want to eat the pastry and the filling in one day you CANNOT have maxed out on Syns already.

• Eat as many superfree foods as you can with the pie as this will fill you up more and make you less likely to gorge on more pie! Cauliflower and broccoli go very well.

Notes on the recipe

1.    I chose to cut out the heart shapes from my pastry off cuts and stick on the top with egg wash but you don’t have to do this.

2.    If you can find the time, please make your own pastry and not shop bought stuff. The extra effort really is worth it.

3.    I have the Bake Off book and the recipe in there says to cook for a further 25 to 30 minutes once the oven has been turned down. Mine was cooked after a further 30 minutes so I’d go with that rather than the hour suggested on the BBC website.

Copy and pasted recipe from BBC site

Ingredients

For the pastry

·         75g/2½oz unsalted butter, room temperature

·         75g/2½oz lard, room temperature

·         200g/7oz plain flour

·         ½ tsp salt

·         ½ tbsp white wine vinegar

·         about 150ml/5fl oz chilled water

                       For the filling

·         30g/1oz butter

·         280g/10oz onions, peeled, thinly sliced

·         1 tsp salt

·         2 tbsp caster sugar

·         930g/2lb 1oz potatoes, preferably Marabel variety, peeled, thinly sliced

·         140ml/5oz crème fraîche

·         4 tbsp double cream

·         100g/3½oz mature cheddar, grated

·         100g/3½oz Stilton, crumbled

·         100g/3½oz Gruyère, grated

·         freshly ground black pepper

·         1 tsp grated nutmeg

·         1 free-range egg, beaten

Preparation method

1.      To make the pastry, place the butter and lard into a bowl and mash with a fork until soft and creamy. Divide the mixture into four equal portions.

2.      Place the flour into a bowl and add the salt. Take one portion of the butter/lard mixture and rub into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the white wine vinegar and mix it in using a blunt knife. Add just enough cold water to form a dough then turn it out onto a floured work surface.

3.      Shape the dough into a rectangle and roll it out to a thickness of about 1cm/½in. Gently lift the pastry with your fingers and allow it to shrink back a little.

4.      Cut another portion of the butter/lard mixture into small pieces using a palette knife and dot it over the pastry, being careful not to get it too close to the edges. Fold the pastry into thirds, rubbing off any excess flour as you do so, cover in cling film and place in the fridge for five minutes.

5.      Take the pastry from the fridge. Repeat steps 3 and 4 using the remaining butter/lard mixture. If any fat shows through the pastry, scatter over a little more flour.

6.      Remove the pastry from the fridge, roll once more into a rectangle about 1cm/½in thick, fold into thirds and return to the fridge for 30 minutes.

7.      Meanwhile, make the filling. Heat the butter in a wide pan and add the onions, salt and sugar. Fry over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5-6 minutes, or until the onions are lightly caramelised. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.

8.      Cook the potatoes in a large pan of boiling, salted water for eight minutes, drain well then set aside.

9.      Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7, with a rack is just above the middle of the oven and a baking tray underneath to catch any filling that might escape during cooking.

10.  Mix the crème fraîche, cream and cheddar in a small bowl. Mix together the Stilton and Gruyère in a separate bowl.

11.  Layer one quarter of the potatoes, a third of the onions and a third of the Stilton/Gruyère mixture in the bottom of a large pie dish. Sprinkle with a little freshly ground black pepper and grated nutmeg.

12.  Repeat step 11, working from the outside of the pie dish into the middle to achieve a domed effect, seasoning as you go, then pour over half the cream/cheddar mixture. Repeat this step then cover the filling with the remaining potato, ensuring none of the cream mixture is visible.

13.  Take the pastry from the fridge and place on a floured work surface. Roll out in one direction only, turn 45 degrees and roll again until you have a piece of pastry that is a little larger than the pie dish. Lift the pastry with your fingers to allow it to shrink back a little.

14.  Cut thin strips from each edge of the pastry and use a little egg wash to stick each one to the rim of the pie dish. Brush each strip with beaten egg and carefully place the pastry over the filling, pressing it down on the pastry strips to make a good seal.

15.  Take a fork and press down gently around the edges of the pie. Use any off-cuts of pastry to decorate the pie then brush the top with the remaining egg wash. Cut a small cross in the top of the pie to let the steam escape.

Transfer the pie to the oven and bake for 30 minutes then reduce the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and bake the pie for one hour or until golden-brown.