Mrs J likes to keep things positive, and Mrs J’s Ideas is her home for positive change. Today she’s is going to spend a few words talking about bad stuff. But fear not, friends, there is a meat pie recipe in here, too. Because food and sunshine makes everything better. Truth!

Mrs J recently attended a poignant family funeral. Yesterday, she spent some time talking to an acquaintance who came home one day to find her brother dead in her house, apparently a suicide. “Why did he have to do it in my house?”, she asked. Of course, there is no good answer.

Today is a day that many associate with major tragedy. What can we do when tragedy has happened? As individuals we can’t solve everyone’s problems for them, or make the hurt of the world go away. We can just say we’re sorry and perhaps offer a meal.

Mrs J firmly believes that food and sunshine makes everything just that little bit better. The universe has to provide the sunshine. But we can supply some pie.

Now here, as promised, is the recipe for Mrs J’s Bacon Bits Make You Feel a Bit Better Pie. Take care everyone!

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Chop one yellow onion and two cloves of garlic.

Set your oven to 200°C. Get some puff pastry (yes, Mrs J suggests you use ready made) and line a pie dish. Pre-cook it for 10 minutes. You might consider using some foil and maybe some dry rice or beans to hold the shape, but it’s not really necessary.

Drop about 1/3 of 100g of bacon bits (here we call them lardons) into a frying pan. Add a little bit of olive oil as well. Once the fat starts to sizzle, add the onions and garlic.

After a few minutes, add 400g of mixed pork and beef mince. Use your spatula to chop at the lumps in the mince while it browns, so that you get it all nicely browned.

Add 3 tbsp of tomato paste, 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper and 1/2 tsp of salt to your meat. Also add 1 dl of water. Let cook for a few more minutes.

Beat 3 eggs with 1 dl of milk. Add 1 dl of grated cheese. Season with another 1/2 tsp of salt and some black pepper. Slice 2 tomatoes in fairly thick slices.

Put the meat in the pie-shell.

Pour over the egg mix. Top with the tomato slices. Finally distribute the rest of the lardons on top of the pie.

Cook for another 30 minutes at 200°C. If the pie-shell gets too dark, cover with some foil at the end.

P.S. The pie reheats really well, in a normal oven or the microwave as required.