Potato & Cheese Pie

 

This dish I am showing you today is a fabulous vegetarian main dish, filled with lovely flavours and textures. this is always assuming that  you still eat eggs and cheese. 

 

If not, well, then I can't help you!  This tasty one dish supper makes good use of leftover cooked potato. You can also cook potatoes fresh to use in it.

 

True confessions here, I have also used tinned new potatoes, drained well and sliced into rounds.  They worked quite well.  I usually have a few tins of new potatos in the cupboard.  

 

Did you know that new potatoes are fairly low GI?  It's true and when you combine the with a fat (cheese) and a protein (egg) you lower the GI even more.

 

When combined with a slice of whole wheat bread and some salad, that makes this quite a diabetic-friendly meal. I am always trying to lower my GI if I can.

As a diabetic, it can be really difficult to balance your diet, especially if you live with others who are not diabetics. My father is also a diabetic so we are both in the same boat.

 

You can leave it just as it is, with just the potatoes, onions and cheese. You can also amp it up a bit by adding some other vegetables to it.

 

I add cooked green beans to add a small portion of your five a day, and to add some colour.You could add any cooked vegetable you enjoy.  This adds interest, texture and colour.

 

My friend Jacquie used to make a potato pie that was absolutely gorgeous. It had plenty of green beans in it.  I lost the recipe after I moved over to the UK.

 

The last time I e-mailed her, my e-mail bounced back. I will have to contact her daughter on Instagram to see if there is a new e-mail address I can contact her with.  I really hate losing touch with good friends. She is actually just living down the road from me now. 

I seem to recall she also used filo pastry in hers as a crust.

 

I always called Jacquie my White Angel because she had beautiful white hair, just like a shining gossamer halo.  She was so good to me when my previous marriage broke up and I was on my own. She was a wonderful friend, along with her husband Tom. 

 

I could not have asked for two more loving and supportive friends. They are just two very special people. Tom was a vegetarian and Jacquie practiced the art of food combining. She was an iridologist, reflexologist, and herbologist and was very good at all three.  

 

I think that she is the one and only friend I have ever allowed access to my feet. This says a lot. I have a thing about my feet.

 

If you have never been to a reflexologist, you really need to treat yourself sometime!  You will feel like a million bucks afterwards, truly! 

 

Jacquie always told me that all disease starts in the bowel. She could look at your eyes and see what was wrong with your organs, etc.  She was a really special gal and very good at what she did.  

 

Her home always smelled wonderful, like herbs and garlic.  I loved Jacquie, being in her home, her potato pie, and I loved her Tofu Burgers.  They were very tasty as well.

 

But back to this delicious casserole. You could serve it as a side if you wanted to and it would serve more people. I cannot think of anything it wouldn't go with.  Being Friday, I think grilled fish would go well.

 

 As a main, however, it serves 4 to 6 depending on appetities.  It really has fabulous flavours . . . and yet it is so simple.

 

Cheese, onions, potatoes, and green beans are layered up in a dish. A seasoned milk and egg mixture is poured over top.

 

It doesn't get much easier than that.  Really simple.  We are going to be eating so much rich food over the next couple of weeks, simple just fits the bill for now. We are resting before the Christmas onslaught!

 

You bake it, covered, for about 20 minutes or so, uncover it and give it a stir and then bake it for another 20 or 25 minutes, until all of the flavours have melded and the custard has set properly. 

 

It is almost like a baked potato and cheese omelet. I think personally that it is very, very good. If you are looking for somehing simple and yet very tasty, you really can't go wrong with this.

  

I always really enjoyed the way the British called any kind of layered casserole a pie.  They didn't really call them casseroles, unless they involved stewed meat.  Then it might be casseroled beef, etc. That was a casserole to them.

Anything layered like this was called a pie. It didn't have to have a crust. It was just a layered bake.

 

I suppose every country has its own quirks and ways of doing things. That is what I love most about travel and about different cultures.

I love to learn and embrace new things, and this was one that I personally loved. But then I am a foodie.

Potato & Cheese Pie

Yield: 4 - 6 as a Vegetarian main

Author: Marie Rayner

prep time: 15 Mincook time: 50 Mintotal time: 1 H & 5 M

Simple and delicious. Serve warm with fresh bread, sliced tomatoes and a salad.

Ingredients

• 700g waxy new potatoes, peeled and sliced (2 pounds)
• 2 large free range eggs
• 275ml whole milk (9 1/2 fluid ounces)
• 125g grated cheese (generous cup, I use Parmesan and Cheddar)
• salt and black pepper
• 1 small onion, peeled and chopped
• a handful of cooked sliced green beans

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Parboil the potatoes for about 5 minutes in lightly salted boiling water. Drain well, and cool slightly. (Alternatively use leftover cooked new potatoes, peeled and sliced.)
2. Butter an oven-proof dish. Layer in the potato, grated cheese, onion and greenbeans alternately, ending with a layer of cheese.
3. Beat together the eggs and milk, seasoning lightly with salt and black pepper. Pour this mixture over the potatoes and cheese in the dish. Cover tightly with a buttered sheet of foil.
4. Cook in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Uncover and stir the potatoes from the outside to the centre. Cook, uncovered for a further 20 to 25 minutes. Serve warm.

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This really makes for a lovely light supper.  We have it with buttered whole wheat bread and a mixed salad on the side. I love the supersalad salad greens which have baby kale, rocket, spinach and baby chard in them, along with shredded beetroot.  They are fabulous.  I hope you will give this a go!  

 

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