Rustic Bacon, Cheese, and Potato Pie

A savory pie, this Rustic Bacon, Cheese, and Potato Pie is made with layers of sliced potatoes, cheese, and light seasonings all encased in a bacon crust and baked in the oven. Serve hot with side salad of choice.

Servings 6

My Island Bistro Kitchen My Island Bistro Kitchen

Ingredients

2 lbs thinly sliced bacon, room temperature
Apx. 2 lbs waxy potatoes (e.g., Yukon Gold or Red Norlands), peeled and sliced apx. 1/8“ thick (See Note 1 below)
¾ lb hard, melting cheese (e.g., aged white cheddar, Gruyère, or a mixture of both), shredded
2 oz finely grated Parmesan cheese
2/3 - ¾ cup finely chopped onion
3 - 5 garlic cloves, minced
1½ tsp Herbes de Provence
¾ tsp chicken bouillon powder
Fine sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
Cooking oil

Instructions

Set bacon on counter for about 30-35 minutes to remove the chill and make it malleable to place in the baking dish.
In small bowl, mix the onion, minced garlic cloves, Herbes de Provence, and chicken bouillon powder together. Set aside.
In separate bowl, mix cheeses together well to combine. Set aside.
Line a deep-sided 10” pie plate or oven-proof skillet of the same diameter with parchment paper cut to neatly and tidily fit the pie plate or skillet. Lightly spray pan with cooking oil to hold parchment paper in place.
Cover baking dish bottom with the bacon. Start in the center of the dish and lay an end of a strip of bacon flat, extending it up and over the side of the dish, and rest the overhang on the counter. Slightly overlapping the first slice, start the placement of the second slice about 1½“ or so back from the center of the baking dish to avoid a build-up mound of bacon in the center of the dish. Lay the end of the next slice back in the dish’s center. Continue placing the bacon in the dish, in this spoke wheel like fashion, staggering every second slice back about 1½“ or so from the center, and slightly overlapping each slice to ensure full coverage of the dish.
Position oven rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.
Peel potatoes and slice into slices about 1/8“ thick. (See Note 1 below)
Spread a scant ½ cup of the cheese mixture over the bacon in the dish. Starting around the outside edge of the dish, create concentric circles of single layers of the potatoes, overlapping each potato slice by about ¼“ - 1/3”. When dish has been completely covered with a single layer of potatoes, gently compress potato layer with hands. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and top with one-third of the onion-garlic-seasoning mixture followed with one-third of the cheese mixture.
Add second layer of potatoes in the same configuration as the first layer. Compress potato layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and top with one-third of the onion-garlic mixture followed by one-third of the cheese mixture.
Add third layer of potatoes, but this time starting in about ½” - ¾” from the outer edge of the previous layer of potatoes. Compress potato layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and top with the remaining onion-garlic mixture followed by the remaining cheese mixture.
Add one final layer of potatoes, again starting in about ½” - ¾” from the outer edge of the last layer of potatoes. Compress potato layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. The potato filling will have a dome shape and will be higher than the pie plate/skillet sides but will shrink down as the pie bakes.
Fold the bacon overhang ends up from the counter and over the mounded potato-cheese filling in a radial/spoke wheel fashion, slightly overlapping each bacon slice, and completely covering the potato and cheese filling.
Place a 6” circle of parchment paper on top of pie and weigh down with a heavy, oven-safe pot lid cover or other oven- and food-safe weight to keep bacon in place during baking. Place pie on tinfoil-lined, rimmed baking sheet to catch any bacon fat that might overflow the baking dish during baking. Transfer pie to oven and bake for 1½ hours then remove pot lid and 6” parchment paper circle and bake pie for 1¼ - 1½ hours longer, or until a knife inserted into center of pie inserts easily without resistance. Periodically check pie as it bakes and scoop out excess rendered fat from the bacon. If bacon becomes too crispy before pie is done, tent pie loosely with tin foil.
Let pie rest in pie plate or skillet for 10-15 minutes, continuing to remove any rendered fat that appears during the rest period. Grasp edges of parchment paper lining and carefully slide pie from pie plate/skillet onto cutting board that has a juice groove or drip canal on the edge to catch any remaining fat drippings. Slice pie into wedges and serve hot with a side salad of choice.

Recipe Notes

Yield: 6-8 servings

NOTES:
1. For uniform potato slices, use a mandolin. Slices about 1/8” thick work well in this dish. Various kinds of potatoes can be used in this pie but waxy potatoes will hold their shape well. It’s difficult to say exactly the quantity of potatoes needed for the recipe as it depends on many factors including their quality, how much peeling is removed, the size and shape of the baking dish used, how thick the potatoes are actually sliced, and how they are arranged in the baking dish. I suggest having approximately 2 pounds of potatoes available though they may not all be needed. Start by peeling and slicing 1¼ pounds and peel and slice as many more as may be needed for the layers after using the 1¼ pounds.
2. Use hard melting cheeses in this recipe. Use all one kind of cheese or use more than one to increase/vary the flavor. Good choices are a well-aged white cheddar and/or Gruyère.
3. Bacon that has been brought to room temperature will mold more easily into the baking dish than will cold bacon.
4. Use thinly sliced bacon (versus thick) for this dish. Thin cut bacon is easier to mold into the baking dish and there is a lot of bacon! Make sure to stagger every second slice of bacon back about 1½“ or so from the dish’s center to avoid a built-up mound of bacon in the center of the dish. Slightly overlap each slice to form a solid casing of bacon for the filling.
5. Use an oven-safe and food-safe weight to weigh down the pie. A heavy oven-proof pot lid works well. Bacon shrinks as it cooks and the weight will help to keep it in place as it cooks.