While I was at uni, I worked in a country pub a few villages over (in the middle of Lancashire). One of the things they made was a cheese and onion pie which I loved. Also, my grandad was widowed nearly 20 years ago then he met a lovely new Lancashire lass called Betty who also made a cracking C&O pie! Therefore, it was important to me to make this classic as an homage to Lancashire for: my uni years, Betty, that bloody accent and the boy I fancied in 2007! He, like cheese and onion pie, was a massively untapped resource! 

This comes with a warning: do not make for work colleagues- they will harass you to make one again and again! But do eat this with a peppery leaf salad, crisp green apple, a splash of balsamic and pink pickled onions (see my middle eastern food post for pickle recipe).

The recipe below is adapted from the Hairy Bikers recipe- their pastry worked well but I’ve tweaked the quantities of the filling for a more stuffed pie!

Cheese and onion pie

Pastry

• 450g plain flour, extra for dusting
• 2tsb baking powder 
• Large pinch of salt
• 120g butter
• 1 free range egg yolk 
• 50g Parmesan cheese
• 120ml water
• 1 free-range egg, beaten, for glazing

Filling

• 250g extra mature cheddar
• 2 large potatoes 
• 2 medium/large onions
• 150ml single cream
• 1 or 2tsp English mustard 
• 1tsp cayenne pepper
• Pepper to season

1. Put flour, salt, egg yolk, baking powder and Parmesan cheese in a bowl and mix.
2. Rub in the butter until you get a fine crumb (tip: make sure it’s cold and cut it into ten pieces).
3. Add water gradually until the mixture is just coming together. Gather it up into a ball, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for half an hour.
4. Mixture time: chop the potatoes into dice size pieces (or ‘die’ to be grammatically correct) and boil for 15 minutes.
5. Finely slice the onions and boil in another pan for 3 minutes.
6. Strain the onions and coat in flour. Add the cream and stir until thicker.
7. Add the mustard, cayenne, cheese and potato. Stir continually for a few minutes on a low heat until it all comes together.
8. Back to the pastry. Preheat oven to 180c. Roll out 2/3 of the pasty on a floured surface until about 5mm thick. Drape pastry onto a loose bottom pie tin and use a bit of excess pastry to gently ‘smush’ it into the shape. Pop some baking paper onto the pastry and fill with baking beads or rice. Blind bake for 15 minutes. 
9. Tip: try not to eat all of the filling mixture while blind baking or you will have an empty pie.
10. Take the case out of the oven. Spoon the filling in. Roll out the extra 1/3 of pastry into a round (about an inch wider than the pie case).
11. Brush beaten egg onto the rim of the case and place the lid on top. Use a knife or fork to crimp the edges of the pie. Brush the rest of the egg onto the lid.
12. Cook the pie for 30 mins or until golden brown.