Onion Pies

This is actually a recipe which dates from the 1747 publication The Art of Cookery made plain and easy. Even in the 18th Century, you ran the risk of getting a cookbook for Christmas.

Ingredients.
750g (1 ½ lb) shortcrust pastry. I cheated and bought pastry sheets.
2 medium potatoes, 2 medium onions, 2 apples.
60g (2oz) butter. 4 tbs water. ½ tsp mace (or dry mustard). A little ground nutmeg. Some pepper, 1 tsp salt. 4 hard-boiled eggs, sliced.

Method.

Heat the oven to 350F/175C/Gas Mark 4. Boil the eggs. While they are boiling, peel the potatoes, onions, and apples and thinly slice them.

Line a 9-inch pie dish with half the pastry. I cut the sheets up and made them fit.

Beat the butter with a wooden spoon and then spread half of it over the pastry.

Mix the spices together. Sprinkle a little over the pastry. Then layer the sliced eggs, potatoes, onions and apples in the dish, sprinkling a little of the spice between the layers.

Cut the rest of the butter into pieces and lay them on the top. Put in the 4 tbs of water.

Then put the pastry sheet on the top. Cook for an hour or until the potatoes are tender.

Serve hot or cold. You could make these into individual onion pies.