So this is one of those dishes that reminds me of my childhood, i can’t explain how many times i had this as a Saturday dinner treat from my dad and every time it tasted just as good as the first time. Funnily enough when i returned from travelling for 6 months in 2017 the first thing i asked for when my mum picked me up was a Glovers butter pie from my hometown of Leyland so off we drove. In my eyes you’ll never grow out of your comfort food, so here is my own recipe for you to try and tap into the comfort i feel from this super butter stodgy treat!

INGREDIENTS (per pie)

• 1 medium potato
• 1 medium onion
• 200g Soft Butter (i use soya)
• 1tbsp oil
• All purpose flour
• Beaten egg
• Pinch of salt
• Thyme
• Milk (i use soya)
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp ground Pepper
• Garden peas
• Veg stock

EQUIPMENT

• Tartlet case
• Blender
• Oven at 190º fan
• Mandoline or peeler

METHOD

First off lets get this pastry made, i don’t do anything overly fancy here its just your standard short crust the only thing i do is i don’t really measure the amount of flour as i feel its more about a consistency with pastry. So pop half the butter (100g) in the bowl and the salt, pepper and onion powder now start to mix in the flour a bit at a time crumbing it up between your fingers until you get a soft but not sticky dough. Too much flour it will dry out and go crumbly too little it will just be sticky and melty, so get it just nice and soft like Play-Doh from when you where a kid.

This is then rested in the fridge whilst the rest of the ingredients are prep’d.

Next lets get some onions chopped up, bang them in a flat pan with the oil and rest of the butter, thyme and start to sweat down, they almost confit in the butter which is nice.

Mean while get that potato and slice it thin, now i have 3 ways you can do this, way one; use a knife and channel your inner samurai and get some strips as thin as you can. Way two; this is the one i did until i had the proper tools, get a peeler and just peel the spud, it gets crisp like thins of potato that are perfect in my opinion or lastly way three; use a mandoline and get your super thins that way.

Now pop them into the pan with the onions and pour in the milk to just cover the spuds and boil down until semi-soft. Take off the heat and rest.

Next grease up your tartlet, get your pastry roll it out and fit it in the tin making sure you get in all the corners, now get the spuds from the pan and start to layer them with the onions and the sauce mix evenly so you don’t have too much buttery sauce and more potatoes in there. Once full to the top get yourself a lid rolled out of the extra pastry and with a bit of the egg dab on the lip of the pastry case for glue and fit the lid perfectly on top lightly crimping it to make it seal, egg wash the rest of the top, then pop a little slit on the top of the lid for air to get out of.

Place in a Pre heated oven at 190 degrees fan for around 20mins and golden on top.

Whilst the pie is cooking get some garden peas, stick them in the microwave covered in water with the veg stock in for about 3 mins on high, take out and put in a blender with a tablespoon of the water you used to boil them in, whiz it up real nice until smooth (add more water if needed but a tablespoon at a time) and then plate that and your perfectly made pie on top.

Tuck in feel extra comforted and kick back with a sense of great pleasure and kid like happiness. Beltin’!

This one goes out to my dad (RIP) – ‘Tah spud’