Lekker: Tony Jackman’s breakfast pan pie. (Photo: Tony Jackman)
It’s the small things that make the difference. In so many recipes, it’s these little details that do the groundwork of creating flavour right through the dish.
Sure, we love the bacon, the Cheddar cheese, the fried onion and the tomato that top this sheet pan pie. But in the finer detail, the base is brushed with melted butter, then thyme sprigs are scattered over, so that there’s an underbelly of herby, buttery flavour. The butter also helps the pastry turn golden and crisp.
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Don’t be shy of buying frozen puff pastry. It works superbly, with a fabulous crisp and golden finish. Just bake it in a very hot oven for as long as it takes for the pastry to be cooked through and achieve that crunchy result.
There are good bacon bits and there are bad ones. Please try to source bacon bits that are mostly lean bacon, with a few fatty bits. With some of the brands, the bits are half fat and cut too big.
And this needs a mature Cheddar cheese that crumbles when you grate it. I used Cookhouse Creamery’s mature Cheddar, which is excellent.
(Serves 4-6)
Ingredients
200g frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 Tbsp butter to grease the pan
Melted butter (about 4 Tbsp or enough to baste the entire top of the pastry)
1 small red onion, sliced
200g bacon bits of a decent quality
2 ripe red tomatoes, halved and sliced thinly
100g Cookhouse Creamery mature Cheddar or other good-quality Cheddar cheese
Thyme sprigs
Salt
Black pepper
Method
Make sure the pastry has thawed. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Grease an oven pan with butter.
Fry the bacon and the onions and have them ready. Grate the cheese. Slice the tomatoes.
Lay the pastry out on the pan (no need to roll it out) and fold over the edges on four sides.
Melt butter and brush the entire base with it, including the folded edges.
Sprinkle thyme leaves all over.
Scatter the bacon over, leaving a few pieces for the top. Lay the tomato slices here and there. Scatter most of the onion over, leaving some aside. Season with salt and black pepper.
Scatter enough grated cheese over to cover the ingredients without them becoming invisible.
Scatter the remaining bacon bits and onion on top of the cheese.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden and crunchy. Scatter thyme leaves over before serving. DM
Tony Jackman is Galliova Food Writer 2023, jointly with TGIFood columnist Anna Trapido. Order his book, foodSTUFF, here
Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.