Recipe: Anchovy, Bacon & Potato Pie

I really like old cookery books...

It's a mix of the almost-musty smell combined with the softness of the well-worn pages, plus the curiosity of who owned them before me. Often there's a name but in one I found recently there was only a handwritten recipe for a Porter Cake, which I have still to make ... but this was still a connection to a previous owner and their cooking, which is something special.

The book is called 'The Good Cook's Encyclopedia' and was published in 1962 so it's hardly ancient, and while I was thumbing through the pages for a recipe for a meaty pie I came across this one instead:

Something appealed about it - probably the thoughts of the salty anchovies combined with the mini-chips and a silky smooth creamy sauce. So I decided to cook it with a small amount of variation. I felt a little bacon would help - as it often does generally in life -  and added a little extra zing with a bit of mustard, black pepper and a sprinkle of parmesan

So here it is...

Ingredients:

• 4 Large Shallots chopped in rings
• 4 Medium Potatoes cut in to mini-chips, rinsed and dried
• 50g of Anchovies in oil
• 300ml Cream
• 1 Streaky Bacon cut into thin strips
• Olive oil
• Butter
• Mustard
• Black Pepper
• Parmesan

Recipe:

• Fry the bacon in olive oil until crisp and remove
• Soften the shallots in the same oil
• In a small ovenproof dish add half the chips, then a layer of anchovies combined with the bacon, top this with the shallots and then finish with the rest of the chips
• Dot the top of the pie with a small amount of butter and drizzle some of the anchovy oil over too for good measure
• Cook in a hot (200C) oven for 10 minutes
• Mix a teaspoon of mustard with the cream and pour into the dish, top with a dusting of parmasan and black pepper
• Cook for a further 30-40 minutes until the chips are cooked and there is some colour on the top of the pie
• Let cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Liam