"Cholera" – Swiss leek, potato, and cheese pie

Ingredients for 8 servings:

• 350 g flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 125 g butter
• 100 ml water
• 300 g smoked bacon, air-dried
• 500 g waxy potatoes, pre-cooked
• 2 large onions
• 300 g leek, only the white part
• 2 apples
• 2 pears or quinces
• 300 g mountain cheese
• salt and pepper
• 1 egg yolk
• 20 g butter for frying

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Rest time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 50 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours

A relative of Cornish pasties. Vegetarians simply leave out the bacon.

Knead the flour with the broken butter and salt until the flour becomes crumbly. Then gradually add water until a smooth dough forms. Wrap the dough in cling film and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Dice the bacon. Peel the pre-cooked potatoes and cut them into thick slices. Dice the onions, finely slice the white part of the leek, and grate the cheese. Peel the fruit, remove the core, and slice the flesh. First, fry the bacon cubes in a little butter until crispy. Then remove the cubes from the pan and slowly fry the onions and leek in the frying fat until soft. Add a little more butter if desired. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper. Divide the dough in half and roll out thinly on a floured surface. Line a buttered baking dish with a piece of dough. Ideally, the edges should extend over the edges enough to fold over the filling. Layer the filling: first the potato slices – salted and peppered – then the onion and leek mixture, then half the cheese, the fruit, the bacon cubes, and on top the rest of the cheese. Fold over the edges of the dough and moisten with a little water. Place the second dough slice on top and press down. Cut a small hole in the center to allow moisture to escape. Prick the dough several times with a fork. Whisk the egg yolk with a little water or milk and spread it over the surface of the dough. Bake the pie in an oven preheated to 200 degrees Celsius for 50 minutes. If the pie gets too dark, cover with aluminum foil or a suitable lid. This dish is suitable both as a warm starter and as a main course. Vegetarian versions are also available in some regions, which simply omit the bacon. The dish’s strange name is often explained by its origin during a cholera epidemic, when the inhabitants of Valais tried to leave their homes as little as possible and prepare dishes using only the ingredients available. Alternatively, and more convincingly for me, the name is also attributed to the anteroom to the bakehouse, in Swiss dialect Cholära, from Chola or Cholu for coal.