Lancashire Slab Pie
Is it giving Wildair?
Hello! It’s been a bit quiet here because I’ve been working away in the background to bring you five recipes in support of an important cheesy cause this summer… This week Neal’s Yard Dairy are launching a campaign to help save Britain’s Territorial cheeses, called EAT THEM OR LOSE THEM. These traditional cheeses – Lancashire, Cheshire, Wensleydale, Cotherstone and other Dales cheeses – are under threat of extinction, with only a tiny number of small-scale producers left still making the recipes in the traditional way. I truly believe they’re the greatest cheeses in the world, so I’ve set out to convince you to buy a piece this month. First up: Lancashire Slab Pie.
Chasing a crawling, cruising 9-month old is no joke! Sitting still is a thing of the past, and this constant moving and monitoring requires sustenance. This month I’m bringing you multiple recipes that have seen me through the task.
All of the British Territorial cheeses represent my favourite cheese flavour profile: tangy. Kirkham’s Lancashire and Cotherstone are my two most favourite cheeses in the world though, so it’s no surprise that my mind turned to them when I started working on these recipes. Both are the perfect level of acidic, and to me, represent haute cuisine when eaten just as they are. But they also melt beautifully. Lancashire is tart, rich, lemony and buttery all at the same time, with an admirably high fat content. Cotherstone is bouncy in texture and yogurty in flavour, with a complex mushroomy savouriness towards its rind. Like a Babybel done right.
So how best to showcase the complexity of these cheeses’ flavour? The answer would be to not overpower them, which I would avoid by pairing them with ingredients that would enhance their unique qualities but not steal the show.
To kick us off, I wanted to create a Lancashire Slab Pie. Partly because I just really like the name ‘Slab Pie’. Partly because I was influenced both by the stacks of pies from New York restaurant Wildair, and by Ben Lippett’s lovely looking Ham and Comté Pithivier (himself influenced by Wildair). I mean look at this thing…
I don’t think either Wildair or Ben call their pies ‘Slab Pies’ but that wouldn’t stop me. Their pies share a shape and a structure with this one, and that’s what matters.
There’s something very appealing about the multiple corners of a slice of a slab pie, like you’re getting that first right angle bite of a slice of pizza, not once, but four times. Your crust to filling ratio is just better with a rectangle slice.
I knew I wanted my pie to be vegetarian and I wanted it to taste as good at room temperature as it would warm. Because it’s picnic season, and because, on maternity leave, it’s always ‘take your portable lunch out with you season’ – that maternity pay packet does not stretch to cafe lunches. I opted for in-season courgettes here as I love that when they’re slowly caramelised over a gentle heat, they take on a gorgeous jammy sweetness that goes so well with the the tart and savoury cheese and soft onions.
I’ve used both Lancashire and Cotherstone in the final recipe because I liked how their qualities combine when melted, but you can go for 100% Kirkham’s Lancashire if you prefer (Kirkham’s Lancashire is available to buy outside of the UK in both the US and Australia, where I know some of you live).
Please note the courgettes and onions can be prepared the day before, if, like me, you are a parent who needs to cook in multiple stages.
Lancashire Slab Pie
3 tbsp olive oil
40g butter
3 brown onions, thinly sliced
2 courgettes, sliced into rounds about the thickness of a pound coin
150g Kirkham’s Lancashire cheese
120g Cotherstone cheese
2 sheets of puff pastry
1 egg (for egg-washing)
1 tbsp onion seeds
1 tbsp white sesame seeds
1 tbsp black sesame seeds
2 tsp flaky salt
In a large pan, melt the butter and add your onions along with a pinch of salt. Cook slowly over 30 minutes, stirring at regular intervals until the onion is completely soft, browned and caramelised. Allow it to cool a little.
In a small frying pan, add your olive oil over a low-medium heat and cook the courgette slices, slowly, stirring now and again until fully soft and coloured. Turn the heat up a bit if they haven't picked up any colour once they’re soft – it's nice to have some caramelisation on your courgettes too. The process should take 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool.
Grate both of your cheeses (the Cotherstone will crumble a bit, that's good, some larger chunks are nice). Take your puff pastry sheets out of fridge and use a small sharp knife to gently draw a 1 inch border all around the outside edges of one of the sheets, deep enough that you can see it but that it doesn’t penetrate the pastry. Turn your oven on to 190°c.
Lay your cooled onions all along the inside of your border. Top with the cooked courgettes, then with both of the grated cheeses. Whisk the egg and add a pinch of salt to it then use a pastry brush to egg wash your border and lay the top sheet of pastry on top. Secure the border with fork, sealing it very well, then roll over your slab with a rolling pin to flatten it. Egg wash the pastry well, before cutting two slits in the middle to release any moisture in cooking.
Mix all the seeds together with the flaky salt and scatter these all over the pie before baking in the middle of a hot oven for 35-40 minutes or until golden all over. Brush with a little butter when you remove the pie from the oven. Serve with a side salad and enjoy!
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