The Pie

Continuing with our alternative lunch, here's The Pie – you don't have to use the same veggies, I chose what I liked – the world is your rutabaga! (the vegetarian equivalent to “the world is your oyster or lobster”).

Christmas Vegetarian Pie

3 medium carrots

3 medium parsnips

3 shallots

1 bulb Fennel

6 large Charlotte potatoes

2 x garlic cloves (leave as is – don't peel)

or 2 tsps of garlic paste

salt and black pepper

glug of Rapeseed oil

Quick Onion Sauce (with star anise powder)

250g vac-pack of chestnuts, chopped

150g dried cranberries

puff pastry sheet

1 egg, beaten

Top, tail and peel the vegetables and dice to a similar size

Pre-heat your oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6.

Tip the vegetables and garlic cloves into a roasting pan (or foil dish) season and drizzle with a glug of rapeseed oil. Bake and check after 20 minutes – you want your vegetables firm when you test with a knife.

Whilst your vegetables are roasting make a “Quick Onion Sauce” - I'm going to substitute the nutmeg with a tsp of star anise powder for a change – entirely optional.

When your vegetables have cooled, fish out the garlic cloves and “pop” the purée into the vegetables and mix.

Add the onion sauce, chestnuts and cranberries to the vegetables and taste to ensure the seasoning is good – add more salt and black pepper to your own taste - tip into your pie dish (or in my case a foil tray!!!). Add your pastry lid and brush with beaten egg – bake for 30 minutes, check after 20, until golden brown.

This pie will serve 4-6 as a main course – depending on appetites – if you want to use the pie as an accompaniment then it will serve 8.

Quick Onion Sauce

3 medium onions, peeled and roughly chopped

Good glug of rapeseed oil and generous knob of butter

30g plain flour

500ml milk

salt and white pepper

freshly grated nutmeg

Soften the onion in the oil and butter, sprinkle over the flour and mix.

Gradually add the milk, stirring continuously. Use and spatula to stir, you'll cover the base of the saucepan and stop the sauce from going lumpy.

Let the sauce boil when you've added all the milk, then remove from heat and season with the salt and pepper and nutmeg if you wish.

You can prep the vegetables and the onion sauce whenever you have time and freeze them – if you are cooking a roast on a Sunday you could prep extra veg and roast them at the same time – you know how I like to use all the oven and multi-task too.

You could prep the pie filling, pop into a dish and freeze it, adding your pastry lid when you want to serve.

If you are catering for gluten free guests, you could do worse than to use the shortcrust pastry recipe mentioned in “Next up … techniques for your Smoked Fish Pie”.

If you struggle with what to serve to any vegetarian and/or gluten free guests then this recipe is really easy, especially if vegetarian cookery isn't your bag. This is a pie that I've served and has been demolished by meat eaters – if you need any more convincing.

If you collect useless pieces of information you might like to know that a rutabaga is a North American swede – I just love the word – great quiz question!