Cheese and Onion Pie with Onion Gravy, Roast Carrot and Crispy Onions
A deep pie of Lancashire cheese and slowly softened onions in crisp shortcrust, with a rich onion gravy poured at the table, roast carrot and a smooth carrot puree.
Cheese and onion pie is Lancashire food, and it is far better than the pale, watery thing it is sometimes reduced to. Ours is built on two ideas: onions cooked long enough to turn sweet and jammy rather than merely soft, and a crumbly Lancashire cheese with enough acidity to keep the whole thing lively. This is our home cook version of the pie we serve in the restaurant, gravy poured at the table.
The filling wants to be thick. A loose one will steam the pastry from the inside and you will lose the crisp base that makes the dish, so the mixture is bound with a proper roux and then cooled completely before it goes anywhere near the shortcrust. Cooling is not an optional step here. Warm filling melts the butter in the pastry before it can set, and that is the difference between a crisp shell and a soggy one.
We bake ours in individual rings for a tall, straight sided pie, which is what you can see on the plate, but a 20cm tin makes the same pie to share and is a good deal easier at home. Both are described below. The onion gravy is worth making properly and can be done days ahead.
Method
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1
Make the pastry first. Rub the butter into the flour and salt with your fingertips until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs, leaving a few larger flecks of butter, which is what gives you flake. Stir in the egg yolk, then add the ice cold water a little at a time, bringing it together with a knife until it just forms a dough. Do not knead it. Flatten into a disc, wrap and chill for at least an hour.
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2
For the filling, melt the butter with the oil in a wide pan over a low heat. Add the onions and a good pinch of salt and cook gently for 30 to 35 minutes, stirring often, until they are completely soft, sweet and pale gold. This is the step that decides the dish, so do not rush it or take them past gold into dark brown. Add the thyme for the last few minutes.
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3
Stir the flour into the onions and cook for 2 minutes, then add the milk a splash at a time, stirring well between additions, until you have a very thick sauce. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the mustard and season with salt and white pepper. Let it cool for 10 minutes, then fold through the crumbled Lancashire. Spread onto a tray and cool completely, ideally in the fridge for an hour. The filling must be cold and thick enough to hold its shape on a spoon.
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4
Meanwhile make the onion gravy. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onions and sugar and cook over a medium low heat for 20 to 25 minutes until deeply caramelised, stirring so they colour evenly. Stir in the flour, cook for a minute, then pour in the cider and let it bubble away almost to nothing. Add the stock and bay, bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes until it coats the back of a spoon. Sharpen with the vinegar, season, and strain if you prefer it smooth.
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5
Heat the oven to 190C fan with a baking tray inside. Roll two thirds of the pastry to about 3mm and line a 20cm loose bottomed tin, or four 10cm rings set on a lined tray, pressing well into the corners and leaving a little overhang. Chill for 20 minutes, then line with baking paper and baking beans and blind bake on the hot tray for 15 minutes. Lift out the beans and paper and bake for a further 8 to 10 minutes until the base is dry and sandy to the touch. This is the second guard against a soggy bottom.
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6
Fill the cooled case with the cold filling and level it. Roll the remaining pastry for a lid, brush the rim with beaten egg, lay the lid on and press to seal, then trim and crimp. Cut a small steam hole in the centre and glaze all over with beaten egg. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes for a large pie, or 22 to 25 minutes for individual ones, until deep golden. Rest for 15 minutes before turning out, or the filling will run.
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7
While the pie bakes, deal with the carrots. Toss the whole carrots with the butter, honey and a pinch of salt, spread in a roasting tin and roast for 25 to 30 minutes until tender and glazed, turning once. Boil the chopped carrots in salted water until completely soft, about 15 minutes, drain very well, then blend with the cream and a knob of butter until smooth and season. If the puree is at all loose, dry it out in a pan over a low heat for a few minutes.
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8
For the crispy onions, toss the very finely sliced onion in the seasoned flour, shaking off the excess. Heat 2cm of oil in a small pan to 170C, or until a scrap of onion sizzles briskly, and fry in small batches for 1 to 2 minutes until golden. Lift out with a slotted spoon onto kitchen paper and salt straight away. They crisp as they cool.
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9
To serve, spoon a swipe of carrot puree onto each warm plate and set a wedge or a whole individual pie beside it. Add a roast carrot, scatter over the crispy onions and a few pea shoots, and bring the gravy to the table in a small jug so it can be poured over at the last moment.
Chef's tips
- The filling and the gravy can both be made two days ahead and kept in the fridge, which turns this into a much shorter job on the day. The pastry can be made a day ahead too, or frozen for a month.
- If your filling looks loose when cold, stir in a further 25g of cheese and chill it again rather than adding more flour, which dulls the flavour.
- Lancashire is the right cheese for this, but a mature Cheddar or a Cheshire will work. Avoid anything that melts to a stringy mass, as you want the filling to stay short and crumbly.
- To keep the dish vegetarian, check that your cheese is made with vegetarian rennet and use a vegetable stock for the gravy. It contains gluten and dairy.
A pint of Lancashire bitter is the honest answer, but a dry cider or an unoaked Chardonnay both cut the richness nicely.
Taste the Cheese & Onion Pie as we plate it.
Cooked by our kitchen and served on the banks of the River Darwen.
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