EGG AND BACON PIE. IT'S AUSTRALIA (AND NEW ZEALAND) ON A PLATE.
It’s our version of the great Quiche Lorraine - a no-nonsense, country-cookin' treat, and we love it. But what would happen if we gussied it up a little?
Here’s a recipe for a simple but lovely tart that’s good for work-from-home lunches, and great on the side of a tomato soup. Basically, I wanted egg and bacon pie, but I wanted it lighter and richer, like the quiche Lorraine of northern France. It can be quite elegant with cocktails, and left-overs are quite dazzling for breakfast - it’s just eggs and bacon, after all.
I’ve also added a quick and easy bush tomato relish to make it even more Australian. Bush tomatoes? They’re the small sun-dried fruits of the kutjera shrub, often called desert raisins, because they taste a bit like caramelised sun-dried tomatoes - quite addictively so. They’re great for chutneys, pasta sauces, curries and beefy stews.
I like this sort of cooking, where you make something familiar yet add one thing that’s new to you, that will continue to inform and enrich your cooking forever more.
EGG AND BACON TART
Baking it in a long oblong tart tin gives nice straight-across slices, or you can still cut them on the diagonal to get wedges. Serves 6
Shortcrust pastry for 1 tart
150 g streaky rindless bacon, chopped
4 x 65 g eggs
150 ml cream
150 ml milk
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
60 g grated cheddar or gruyere
sea salt and pepper
grated nutmeg
200 g bush tomato relish ( see below)
Heat the oven to 180C.
Get the pastry done. Line a 28 cm x 12cm non-stick fluted tart tin with the pastry and trim to fit. Line with foil and fill with raw beans or pastry weights. Bake for 10 minutes then remove the foil and weights, and bake for a further 5 minutes to make sure the bottom is cooked through and won’t sog.
In the meantime, gently fry the bacon until almost crisped. Remove the tart pastry from the oven, and raise the oven temperature to 190C.
Beat the eggs, cream, milk and mustard together, then stir in the cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Scatter half the bacon on the pastry base, pour in the filling and scatter with remaining bacon.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until set. Serve warm with bush tomato relish.
Note: Bush tomatoes are available from most spice specialists such as Herbie’s, but there are some great Indigenous-owned businesses to support, such as Indigiearth in Mudgee, NSW. If you have other places you recommend, please add as a comment and we’ll all benefit.
BUSH TOMATO AND EGGPLANT RELISH
Great with lamb chops, sausage rolls, fish and veggie burgers as well. Serves 6.
2 onions, halved and sliced
200 g eggplant, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
500 g tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 garlic cloves
1 red chilli, chopped
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp ground cumin
Half tsp native pepper berry, crushed
1 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp balsamic or other vinegar
1 tbsp bush tomatoes, ground
Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan and cook the onion and eggplant for 10 minutes until softened.
Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, chilli, sugar, cumin, native pepper, sea salt and 100 ml water and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the vinegar and ground bush tomato, stirring, and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes until thickened to a chutney-like consistency.
Serve warm or cold.
Thanks for reading (and liking, commenting, subscribing, knock yourself out).
Copyright © 2020 Jill Dupleix.
I would like to acknowledge that I live, work and play on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and wish to pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging. I fully support the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to be enshrined in Australia’s Constitution.