This bacon and egg pie is breakfast in the form of a pie. It's got the classic breakfast stapes, bacon and eggs, baked between two crusts, flavoured with wild garlic (ramp) pesto. What's not to love?
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the flour and salt.
Drop the cold cubes of butter into the bowl and mix them in for 60 to 90 seconds to form a coarse crumbly mixture.
Drizzle the water into the bowl with the mixer running on low and continue to stir until a shaggy dough forms. Press it and shape into two disks and wrap with plastic wrap to chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
To make the pesto
Place the ramps, pine nuts, and cheese in a small food processor or mini chop (I like mine from KitchenAid available on Amazon). Purée everything together until the mixture is fairly fine. With the processor running, drizzle in the olive oil. Taste and adjust the pesto with salt and pepper. You might want to use more oil for a looser pesto. Use right away or store in a jar in the fridge.
To bake the pie
Roll out one disk of dough so that it is about an inch larger all around than the top of the pie plate (so really, the diameter of the dough should be 2 inches bigger). Transfer the rolled dough to the pie plate and fit it into the corners and edges really well. Trim and tuck under the edges as necessary. Chill the unbaked pie for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 375 °F (190 °C).
While your pie crust is chilling, cook the chopped pancetta in a skillet. Transfer to a small bowl and let cool.
Just before blind-baking the pie crust, dock the crust with a fork, then place a sheet of parchment over the pie dough and fill with beans. Blind bake the pie as is for about 15 to 20 minutes, then carefully lift off the parchment and beans, then bake for another 5 to 10 minutes until the pie looks dry and just begins to colour.
Take the pie plate out of the oven. Increase the oven temperature to 400 °F (200 °C).
Spoon the cooked pancetta over the blind-baked pie crust.
Crack the 8 eggs over top. Season with salt and pepper.
In a small bowl, whisk together the heavy cream and 3 tablespoon of the pesto. Poor this over the seasoned eggs.
Set this aside while you roll out the top crust to about ⅛ inch thick. Smear with pesto, about 4 tablespoons, if using (see note below). Cut into ½ inch strips. Working with 1 strip at a time, lift and twirl it from end to end, then twirl it in the centre of the pie, working from middle to outer edge in a spiral patter, gently tucking one end under the next strange ever slightly to hide the ends.
Bake the pie for a good 45 minutes. The crust should be a deep golden brown.
Notes
The pesto brushed onto the strips of top crust before baking get very dark in the oven because the baking time is quite long in order to properly bake the crust. If this isn't something you want, simply spiral plain strips of dough on top of the pie and brush the crust with pesto as soon as you pull it out of the oven.