Bacon and egg pie with a filo crust
60 min · 26 g protein · 284 cals / serving
The picnic and brunch pie of every Australian childhood: smoky bacon, peas and spring onion under whole eggs that bake into golden pockets, in a crisp case and lid of filo instead of puff pastry. A creamy layer of eggs whisked with cottage cheese holds it together, so it slices cleanly hot or cold.
Ingredients
Case
- 6 sheets phyllo dough, thawed
- a few sprays cooking spray, olive oil
Filling
- 200 g short-cut bacon canadian bacon, diced (about 150 g once browned)
- 3 green onions, sliced
- 120 g baby spinach
- 120 g cooked frozen green peas, thawed
- 10 eggs, 4 whisked, 6 left whole
- 200 g cottage cheese (1%)
- 2 tbsp grated parmesan
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 150 g cherry tomatoes, halved
Steps
- Heat the oven to 390°F (355°F fan-forced). Spray a 23 cm pie dish. Lay 4 filo sheets in the dish one at a time, spraying each lightly and turning each a little so the overhang goes all the way round. Keep the rest under a damp tea towel.
- Brown the bacon in a nonstick pan over medium heat, 4–5 minutes, then stir in the spring onion and spinach until the spinach wilts, about 1 minute. Spread it over the filo base.
- Whisk 4 of the eggs with the cottage cheese, parmesan and pepper and stir in the peas. Pour it over the bacon. Make 6 hollows with the back of a spoon and crack an egg into each, keeping the yolks whole.
- Dot the cherry tomatoes in the gaps. Spray the last 2 filo sheets, scrunch them loosely and lay them over the top, then fold the overhang in over them.
- Bake 35–40 minutes, covering loosely with foil if the filo browns too fast, until the pastry is deep golden and the eggs are set right through (160°F in the centre). Rest 10 minutes before cutting; it slices best warm or cold.
Good to know
Can I use puff pastry?
Yes, it is the classic. Use 2 sheets, one for the base and one for the lid, and blind-bake the base 10 minutes first so it is crisp. It is a richer pie, at about 47 instead of 55.
Is it good cold?
Better, some say. It is a picnic pie: chill it whole, slice it the next day and pack it with a salad. It keeps 3 days in the fridge.
Why whisk some of the eggs?
Whole eggs alone leave gaps and the pie falls apart when you cut it. The whisked eggs and cottage cheese set around them like a custard, so every slice has a whole egg in it and holds together.
Per
- Calories
- 136
- Protein
- (37%)
- 12 g
- Fat
- (39%)
- 6 g
- Carbohydrates
- (24%)
- 8 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 318 mg
More breakfast
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 1705 kcal goes into the pot and 1401 g of ingredients comes out as about 1250 g of food: 136 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.