Firstly, a confession, I am hopeless in the
kitchen. If you invite me to your house for dinner, be grateful that I bring wine and cheese.
 So with that in mind, I decided to embark
on the foolish task of cooking some of the recipes I have come across in my historical romance writing research.

 Onion Pie.

 This is actually a recipe which dates from the 1747 publication The Art of Cookery made plain and easy.  Even in the 18th Century, you ran the risk of getting a cookbook for
Christmas. Ingredients.
 750g (1 ½ lb) shortcrust pastry.  I cheated and bought pastry sheets.
2 medium potatoes, 2 medium onions, 2
apples. I used red apples.
60g (2oz) butter. 4 tbs water.
½ tsp mace. I struggled to find this in the supermarket, so I used Keen’s mustard instead which has been around since that time. (Well the tin in my cupboard has been). A little ground nutmeg. Some pepper, 1 tsp salt. 4 hard-boiled eggs, sliced. Method.

 Heat the oven to 350F/175C/Gas Mark 4. I
did put the fan force on and turned it down a
 little. Boil the eggs. While they are boiling, peel the potatoes, onions and apples and thinly slice them.Line a 9 inch pie dish with half the pastry. I cut the sheets up and made them fit. Beat the butter with a wooden spoon and then spread half of it over the pastry.  Mix the spices together. Sprinkle a little over the pastry. Then layer the sliced eggs, potatoes, onions and apples in the dish, sprinkling a little of the spice between the layers. Roughly cut is good enough remembering that they didn’t have egg slicers in those days. (Ok, I couldn’t find one in my kitchen). Cut the rest of the butter into pieces and lay them on the top. Put in the 4 tbs of water. Then put the pastry sheet on the top.
Cook for an hour or until the potatoes are tender.  Serve hot or cold.
You could make these into individual onion pies.