cheese and onion pie

this is my mum’s recipe and it’s just wonderful. it’s also fabulously flexible - easy to pull together, delicious both hot and cold (i prefer it cold/ at room temperature), easy to transport (perfect for picnics or packed lunches) and has the sort of flavours that most people like. it also keeps well.

a puff pastry base is placed in a pie tin and filled with layers of raw sliced onion and sliced cheese – i tend to use white onions and cheddar but you can vary these depending on what flavours you want, or what you happen to have in.  beaten egg is then added, so that it just comes up to the top of your onion/cheese mix; a pastry lid goes on top and then the whole thing is glazed with a final bit of beaten egg and sprinkled with kalonji (aka nigella seeds, which have an oniony flavour) before being cooked at 200c for c30 minutes (until the pastry is cooked through and golden).

the amount of cheese, onions and eggs that you add determines the texture (and flavour) of the pie – i like to pack the cheese and onion in as tightly as possible so you get quite a rich dense filling. if you only layer it loosely and maximise the egg content then the end result will be lighter and more quiche-like in texture. it’s a matter of personal preference, or just down to what ingredients you have to hand. either way, it’s delicious and well worth adding to your repertoire.