Melt 30g butter for the filling in a heavy-bottomed pan and add 1 tsp groundnut oil.

Tumble in 4 sliced onions (not the spring onions at this point). Stir them round in the fat until coated, then sauté gently for about 12 minutes.

Season, add a couple of tablespoons of water, keep the heat low and cover with a lid. It will take 30 more minutes for the onions to get completely soft. Keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t burn on the base of the pan (add another tablespoon of water if you need to).

When the onions are completely soft, add 8 chopped spring onions (trimmed). Leave the lid off, turn the heat up and boil off the excess liquid. The onions must not be too ‘wet’ or the bottom of the pie will be soggy. Leave to cool completely.

For the pastry, put 275g self-raising flour, 80g cold butter (cut into cubes), 60g cold lard (cut into cubes) and some salt into a bowl. Rub together with your fingertips until you have something that looks like little bits of rubble.

Add enough very cold water – gradually – to bring the pastry together into a ball. Use only as much water as you need. Shape the pastry into a disc, wrap in cling film and put it in the fridge for half an hour.

Heat the oven to 200C/190C fan/gas mark 6. Put a baking sheet into it.

Roll the pastry out on a piece of lightly floured baking parchment. Use almost two thirds of the pastry to line the base and sides of a 20cm tart tin with a removable base. Leave an overhang of about 1.5cm. Chill in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

Roll out the rest of the pastry to make a lid. Put this on a baking sheet and chill in the fridge too.

Spoon half of the onions, 113g of the creamy Lancashire cheese (finely grated) into the pastry case. Repeat with the remaining onions and cheese.

Brush the overhang with whole milk and put the lid on top, pinching all the way round to seal.

Use any leftover pastry to make decorations for the top and position them using a little milk.

Brush the pie with milk, slide the tin on to the hot baking sheet, and bake for 40-45 minutes.

Leave to sit for 15 minutes before eating.