Almost Store Cupboard Ham Pie

This pie is great because it is so simple and can be made from a tin or good quality ham when you have very little else to feed a fair number of people.

Firstly you need to make the pastry:

250g/9oz Plain Flour

125g/4.5oz cold unsalted butter, cut into 1cm cubes

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp ice water

heaped tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

Put the flour and butter in a dish, and put the dish in your freezer for 10 minutes.
Stir together the yolks, salt and water in a cup, and put the cup in the fridge.
When the time is up, tip the flour and butter into a food processor, add the sugar and pulse to combine, it will look somewhere between sand and porridge oats.
Pour in the egg yolk mixture and pulse till it looks like it's on the verge of coming together (stop just short of it binding). You may need to add more water.
Turn the dough out and mash together with your hands.
Once it is all bound together wrap in cling film, and let rest in the fridge (generally about half an hour. If you are making a springform cake tin pie, then cut one piece slightly larger than the other (one for the base, one for the top).

Ingredients to make the pie filling:

500g of ham that you have boiled yourself. or failing that a 500g tin of ham from Marks and Spencer. Don't buy one of those awful tins of ham made from reformed pieces. the better the ham, the better the pie. 

125g mild cheddar

250g cream cheese

1 medium onion, fried until soft

2 tbsp chopped parsley (optional) I didn't use any in the pie in the picture as I didn't have any at the time.

1 or 2 eggs, lightly beaten, it depends on how soft the mixture is

freshly ground black pepper

1 heaped tbsp dried breadcrumbs

To Make the Pie:

Cube the ham and pulse in a food processor until coarsely chopped.

Transfer to a bowl and then add all the other ingredients except the breadcrumbs. Preheat to 200C/400F, and put in a baking sheet.
Roll out the larger disc of pastry to cover the bottom and sides of a 25cm springform tin with a cm of overhang.
Sprinkle the bottom with breadcrumbs, then fill with the mixture.
Roll out the rest of the dough to make a lid.
Fold the overhang over and seal by pressing down with the tines of a fork.
Just before baking glaze the pie with the milk salt egg combo, and stab it here and there with the prongs of a fork to make steam holes.
Bake at 200c/400f for 10 minutes, then turn it sown to 180c/350f and bake for a further 45 minutes. Leave the pie to cool at least 10 minutes, but 25 is better.