The dish and the “pie” photos

Homity Pie – the dish

I wouldn't normally use a foil pie dish, in the interests of recycling and climate change et al but when I do I re-use them – just a thought!

a dish fit for purpose!

with the pastry lining

and then the filling

cooked and ready to eat!

Perfect with salady bits and pieces for summer ...

When is a pie not a “pie”?

Quite simply a pie is not a “pie” when it doesn't have a pastry lid.

I normally make Homity Pie for special occasions – my recipe serves 12-16 depending on the size of slice! I decided to make the same amount of pastry but scale down the filling – I freeze the remainder for another day – here goes :

Homity Pie – makes 2

Pastry

200g plain wholemeal flour

100g unsalted butter

pinch of baking powder

ice cold water to bind

Rub the butter into the flour and baking powder until it resembles breadcrumbs, then gradually add a glug of water and use and round bladed knife to bring the pastry together.

You can use a processor if you prefer – I'd then tip the pastry directly onto clingfilm and bring it together to form a ball, then wrap and rest it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Ahead of the game

Bake 3 large jacket potatoes, then cool, peel and dice finely

and place in a large mixing bowl

250g onions, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic – finely chopped or roasted

paste

1.5 tbsp rapeseed oil

salt and black pepper

2.5 tbsp of freshly chopped parsley – 1.5 tbsp for the

filling and 1 for the topping – use less if you are

using dried

150g of grated cheese – I use a mixture of mature

Cheddar, Gruyere and Red Leicester – 100g for the

filling and 50g for the topping

Sauté the onion and garlic in the oil, add to the potatoes and season with salt and black pepper. Add the cheese and parsley, mix thoroughly.

Roll out your pastry and line a greased pie dish measuring 18x14x4 cms (7x5½x1½”) .

Tip your potato mixture into the pastry case and pack it down tightly and flat – it will look as if you'll never get all the filling into the case – persevere – you will succeed.

Top with the remaining cheese and parsley.

Bake in a pre-heated oven – 190fan/170c/Gas 7 for 40 minutes – check after 20 minutes.

Next up … the “pie” photos

The filling and the final fotos!

Serves 2

2 medium sized baked jacket potatoes

approximately 400g – peeled and cut into cubes

measuring 1.5cms/½”

1 medium onion, finely diced and

sautéed with a knob of unsalted butter and

a drop of rapeseed oil until softened – 5 minutes

add 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard to the onion

150g of grated cheeses – 50g each of Mature

Cheddar, Red Leicester and Gruyere

Black pepper

1 amount of Fast Flaky Pastry

1 egg, beaten for egg wash

1 circular foil pie dish – 18cms/7” in diameter and

4cms/1½” deep

Using a large mixing bowl add the potatoes and onions and mustard – season with black pepper. Fold in the cheeses.

On a lightly floured surface roll out your pastry – dust your rolling pin too. Roll out as evenly as you can turning the pastry as it takes shape – always roll backwards and forwards and quarter turns so that it keeps to a circle. If you roll side to side you'll stretch the pastry and it will shrink when cooking!

Tip the filling into the pie dish – it will seem like a lot – pack down firmly. Egg wash the rim of the dish and then gently lift the pastry lid on top of the filling. The egg wash will glue the pastry in place and you can press the lid onto the filling gently. You can use a sharp knife to remove any excess pastry then, using a pastry fork edge the pie. Egg wash the pastry and add two cuts in the centre of the pastry to vent the pie.

Bake in a pre-heated oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6 for 35 minutes.

Here are the final fotos :

the pastry lid, taken from the freezer

the filling in the portable foil tray

the pastry lid – rolled out, edged, vented

and egg washed

the pie straight from the oven

inside the pie

Scrumdiddlyumptious!

If on the other hand …

 … you wanted something special, try this fast flaky pastry recipe which I promise you is easy – it may take a little longer but it's worth it. I've included a step by step guide with hints and tips too!

You will need :

75g of unsalted butter – chilled in the freezer

110g plain flour

pinch of salt

4 tablespoons of ice cold water

Plan ahead - before you begin weigh out your butter, wrap it in foil and put it in the freezer – 30-40 minutes. Place the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. You'll need a cheese grater on stand-by. Remove the butter from the freezer and fold back the foil – it's easier to control when you grate the butter into a heap in the middle of the flour and salt. You can dip the butter into the flour to stop any sticking.

Using a round bladed knife mix the butter into the flour and salt. Sprinkle two tablespoons of water into the pastry and mix well. Add another two tablespoons and continue to mix. Finally use your hand to bring together – you're aiming for a clean bowl so no bits of pastry left in the bowl. Have a sheet of cling film ready – you can now use both hands to mould the pastry into whatever shape you require. Place on the cling film and wrap.

You can now rest in the fridge before use or place the cling filmed pastry in a bag and freeze.

Microplane graters are a great piece

of kit!

The butter in its foil jacket with the grater

over the bowl of flour and salt – you can just as

easily use the grater vertically if that's more

comfortable

The grated heap of butter

The ball of pastry sitting in the bowl

The empty mixing bowl – not a crumb left behind

Next up – the filling and the final fotos!

Ta dah - Rummage pie – photo guide

It tasted as good as it looked.

What's not to love.

P.s. You don't have to stick to the exact “recipe” for the cheese, it's just what you've got in the fridge that needs using up – but note that it's hard cheeses suitable for grating.

Easy Peasy and a few ideas too!

A pie for summer

Fed up with the same old, same old – here's the thing, I like hot stuff with cold stuff and so the obvious to me is a pie. We still need comfort food in the summer!

It's time for a rummage – in the fridge and the freezer!

I'm sure I've got a shortcrust pastry sheet in the freezer - it's a start. Hmm, the fridge - an odd onion here and the remnants of cheese I've always got in my fridge, yippee, the usual suspects are there - Gruyere, Mature Cheddar and Red Leicester - I think we're getting there, then there's the ever faithful baked jacket potatoes I didn't use. I can feel a pie coming on!

It may be considered as cheating using a ready-made pastry sheet - whether it's with shortcrust or puff. If it's in the freezer then it's a product that's meant to make your life easier and quite frankly both types of sheet are heaven sent when you're in a hurry.

Here's my thrown together recipe :

Rummage Pie – Serves 4

300g grated hard cheese, mixed – whatever

is in your fridge – 125g Mature Cheddar, 125g Red

Leicester and 50g Gruyere

1 medium onion, finely diced and softened

with a knob of unsalted butter until opaque

1 tsp Dijon mustard

4 medium jacked potatoes, baked, peeled and

cut into small cubes

black pepper

1 shortcrust pastry sheet – 320g

1 egg, beaten

Knob of butter for greasing pie dish

To assemble :

Make sure you take your pastry out of the fridge to allow it to “warm up” - you'll find the pastry is easier to use and won't crack. Grease and then line your pie dish with half the sheet – you may need to roll it a little to fit – for guidance my pie dish measured 27x9x5 cms approximately.

Tip the cubed potatoes into a large mixing bowl, season with black pepper. Add the mustard to the softened onion and then mix with the potatoes. Add the grated cheese and your filling is ready for the pie dish. There may seem a lot – pack it firmly – it should be raised above the pie dish before the pastry lid is added. Add your pastry lid, egg wash and fridge until you're ready to bake. Don't discard the beaten egg. Pre-heat your oven 180fan/200c/Gas6, egg wash the pie again and bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.

Note to self – may be add both the shortcrust and the puff pastry sheets to the emergency kit for the freezer?

The bonus here is that this pie equally good served hot or cold with sides of your choice and just think how virtuous you'll feel using up leftovers.

P.s I have it on good authority that for those who are dietarily challenged, Aldi's shortcrust pastry is 99p a box, ready rolled - pretty decent and happens to be vegan. A double whammy - their vegan mature cheese blocks have definitely improved – it melts well compared with the old versions that you tried to melt and just ended up with the texture of wine gums!

A few fotos for you …

It does exactly what it says on the tin :

I don't think you'll ever buy mayonnaise again!

Next up, the slaw :

First up slice a “cheek” of cabbage – a sharp paring knife is the best piece of kit – smaller and more easy to control – with care!

Using a julienne peeler you get uniformly sliced strips of carrot

Combine the cabbage, carrot and spring onion, then season and add the drained apricots and sultanas – the mayo, sour cream and curry powder and a final flourish of the lime juice and mango chutney.

Make it the day before you want to serve it – it gives all the different flavours time to infuse – delicious!