Shorts N Slippers: My Third Pie Baking Attempt by Gneb

Those of you who know me would have probably known that I’m a big pie lover. I especially like savoury pies with short crust pastry. Nothing beats a slice of meat pie with a steaming hot cup of coffee.

My love for pies has also driven me to learn baking them. Honestly, I’m not a good cook at all and this will be the only other thing I cook for now, besides packet noodles (which is my other true love, food wise). Sad huh?

I got the short crust pastry recipe from my sister and I have attempted to make the pastry my self twice. After a long suspense since I last made a pie, I bet I’ve become very rusty. Since I have some basic pie ingredients in the fridge and some free time in hand (plus a few friends of mine who have been bugging me to blog about how to make one), I thought I should give it another go and see far I could go. I definitely hope I’m not making a fool of myself in front of all the pastry experts out there :p

This is the short crust pastry that I made last night and left in the fridge over night. It’s rock solid and so I have to thaw it.

Ok, when dealing with pastry, I’d strongly recommend wearing gloves. You definitely do not want to add the “extra flavour” from your fingers into your pastry! And please, do not use rubber gloves as they will leave the rubber smell in your pastry. Use plastic ones instead.

I always wrap my chopping board with aluminum foil so that the pastry doesn’t stick on the board and make a mess of it.

Roll out the pastry and cut it according to the circumference of the dish. Make 2 of this so that 1 goes on top and the other to the bottom. Make some strips to go round the side of the dish. It’s pretty much like playing with “plasticine”, which is quite fun..haha..

Don’t fret if the pastry turns loose and flaky, just need to press it so that it sticks back on again. If the pastry breaks when you transfer it to the dish, just patch it with a small piece of pastry. Told you, it’s "plasticine"..

I know it looks ugly and lumpy, but this is the inside so no one would see. Make it uglier by making some holes with a fork..

Pop the pastry into the oven for 10 min or so to dry up the moisture. I think this also ensures the pie base is cooked properly.

After 10 min, it turns UGLIER!!

While waiting for the ugly pie base to cool down. It’s time to work on the filling. I rummaged through my fridge and found some leftover luncheon meat.

Some eggs

Some condiment to go into the egg to add the extra flavour.

Some pepper

A sprinkle of mixed herbs

A drop or 2 of Lea & Perrins.

The mixture. Doesn't look very appetizing for now..

Lay the luncheon meat slices nicely onto the pastry. And pour the egg mixture on top of the luncheon meat.

Cover the top of the pie with another round shaped cut-out of the pastry. As you can see, I have a bit of the patchwork done on this piece. Spread a layer of egg yolk on top of the pie and trust me, it will not look so obvious when cooked.