Supper Onion Pie

This recipe has been a favourite of ours since the first time I made it. Sweet Pea had been going on about the British foods he missed and I, still in the first flush of romance, thought I'd try this recipe from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess. Well, he loved it, I loved it and we've been making it in some form for years now.

The recipe is pretty simple: softened onions atop cheese scone dough. Variations can include a mashed potato crust (for those following the GF diet), leeks or other onion varieties, different cheeses and herbs. We've found that any variation is good, but with the original, brown sauce is an important condiment.

Supper Onion Pie

4 med red onions - cut into eighths 

1 T olive oil

1 T butter

salt and pepper to taste

3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 cup + 2 T sharp Cheddar cheese or Gruyere, grated

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

3 T butter, melted

1 tsp dry English mustard

1 lg egg, beaten

8 - 10 inch oven proof skillet, a 9 inch pie plate or casserole dish buttered 

set oven to 400F

in a large pan (or the skillet) heat the olive oil and butter and add the onions, cooking over medium heat for about 30 mins. Stir regularly - they should be soft and colourful. season with salt and pepper, add in the thyme. Turn into the pie dish and scatter about 1/3 of the cheese over.

Add flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl with the cheese.

In a measuring cup, measure milk, add the melted butter, mustard and egg. Mix well and add to the flour bowl. Mix up the dough - it should be sticky and I always add a little extra flour just so that I can roll it out.

Roll dough out on work surface, pressing into a circle that would fit over the pie dish. Transfer to the dish and seal the edges.

Put in oven for 15 mins, then lower the heat to 350F and bake for another 10 minutes, the top of the dough should be golden and crisp. Let it stand for a few minutes and then flip it onto a plate to serve.

Serves 4 people.

ya nae wanna slip him ...

The headline said "Snow Chaos". I threw on my parka (so glad our shipment finally arrived!), hiking boots and went outside with Belle. It was a bit like a winter wonderland, sort of what we in Canada would see in November - all white and new, the snow like a sprinkling of icing sugar. 

One thing that was very different was the population: no speeding, no slipping on sidewalks, no car accidents. Everything seemed very orderly, very British. In the park, they were even putting down sand on the paths proactively something I have never seen before. 

It's been snowing on and off all week and it's been lovely. A light dusting, all very pretty and not too cold with most of it melted by the afternoon. The Links & Meadows, where we walk most days, have all kinds of snow people: men, women, families. I counted five different groups making snowmen while we were there.

Belle loves this weather, even if it's very windy, she'll romp for as long as I can take it. As we were sliding home from the park, me tugging at the unwilling pup's leash, an older gentleman saw us, "careful now, ya nae wanna slip him..." 

Isn't she lovely?

Here's Belle ... isn't she sweet? She's adjusted to Edinburgh and knows her way around the neighborhood quite well. I feel this means she is clearly a genius, Peter thinks it means she knows where the food is. It feels a bit safer walking around here with her, I get the feeling that no self respecting Scot would ever hit a dog.

Sweet Pea has taken her onto Arthur's Seat a number of times, which she loves and come home smelling of god knows what. So, yeah, happy days for the wee pup.

The tub here is deep enough that we can bathe her inside without her leaping over the edge and throughout the house (always a pleasant risk at bath time).  

another language

Happy New Year! Hello Year of the Ox! Happy Belated Robbie Burns Day!

I've been pretty out of it for the past couple of weeks since we've had a steady stream of house guests since returning from Ireland. To quote Carla from Top Chef "my zen is zonked".

But, life goes on and, in addition to everything else going on, we are contemplating buying a car. I know! surprises me too. So, we've got to figure out the hows and wherefores of the parking permit. Now this is not difficult by any standards: call a number, get transferred, have the process explained to you, etc. Then I asked directions to the office to pick up the form.

The office is just off the Royal Mile, which is easy enough. And then the woman on the phone said something about the office being near the budgies. Budgies? What budgies? Clearly I misunderstood  - unless there are wild budgies around here that I have yet to find and boy! wouldn't visitors enjoy seeing wild budgies? There can do a whole festival around the budgies, this would be a great tourist attraction, no? Anyhoodle, I did ask her three times to repeat herself and there are only so many times you can say "pardon me" without coming across a little slow. So, I said "right then" and hung up and have been wondering what budgies could possibly mean.

It took Peter 24 hours to guess that she meant the bridges.