No place like home...

There is one piece of Ireland that I miss more than any when I'm away, I can handle missing Barrys tea, Tayto crisps, Brennans bread... the alternatives are different enough to hold my interest and there is always a foreign replacement that holds more appeal for that time. Except when it comes to black pudding. I cannot replace it, there is nothing like it (morcillo just does not taste the same!).

Black pudding is a staple for the Irish breakfast, which consists of eggs, sausages, rashers (bacon) and mushrooms all served up beside black and white pudding. White pudding is nice enough, sausage meat mixed with bread crumbs but it comes nowhere near black pudding for taste.

I love it spread on toast, I love it served with apple, with scallops, with peas... but most of all I love it when its in a pie...

Bills Black Pudding Pie

you'll need

1 black pudding

4/6 sausages

1 red pepper

1 onion

1 green chili

Fresh herbs (whatever you have)

tsp harissa paste

1 clove garlic, crushed

handful grated cheddar cheese

1 sheet puff pastry (buy it don't make it)

Method

Fry the onions, garlic, herbs, chili, pepper along with the sausages until they are cooked. Chop them in the pan and put aside. Fry the black pudding slices until they are crumbling under pressure.

Mix into the sausage mix and add the cheese and harissa paste. The pudding will crumble and the cheese will melt.

Place the pastry on a baking sheet and paint with milk along the edges. Place the pudding mix along the centre and pull the sides up around and across each other like swaddling. Paint with beaten egg or milk.

Tuck in the ends and place in the oven for 20 minutes until golden.