Sausage Pie

This sausage pie is one of Andrew's favourites and seems to be well liked by most people who try it.  It's very easy to make and also excellent value as I find it will make 3 large pies out of 2 packets or 1 kg of sausage meat.  It always seems very meaty to most people even though you can sneak quite a lot of vegetables into it!

Ingredients
3 onions
6 cloves of garlic
3 rashers of bacon
dash of oil
1 kg - or 2.2 lbs - of sausage meat
2 potatoes, peeled and grated
2 apples, washed and grated (no need to remove the skin)
2 carrots, peeled and grated
4 Tbsp of tomato relish (or sauce)
1 packet of dried mushroom soup
1 heaped tsp of curry powder
2 free range eggs
1 tsp mixed herbs
Salt and pepper
3 cups of grated cheese (approximately)
Red onions, tomatoes or mushrooms for the top (optional).

Method
1. Peel and chop the onions fairly finely. Peel, crush and finely chop the garlic. Remove any rinds and chop bacon into small pieces. Brown onion, garlic and bacon in oil for about 5 minutes, then turn off heat and cool.

2. Put sausage meat, potatoes, apples, carrots,  tomato relish, mushroom soup, curry powder, eggs, mixed herbs and salt and pepper into a very large bowl.  Add the cooled onions, garlic and bacon.  Mix the ingredients together thoroughly.

3. Press into pie or baking dishes. I find the mixture makes 3 regular sized large pies. Do not make the pies too thick - 1 to 2 inches is about right. You can sprinkle some extra mixed herbs on the top if you wish.

4. Sprinkle each pie with grated cheese and - if desired - layer slices of red onion, tomato or mushroom on top.

5. Bake at 180C for about 40 minutes.