And a Veggie Pie

This pie filling comes from the search for a vegetarian meal that could be cooked straight from the freezer for a family occassion. It also uses chestnuts which seem so right for wintry days, though in fact those packets of prepared chestnuts are available all year round.

So I first made this into pasties, shaped much like a Cornish one, by using discs of pastry folded over. This amount made 8 pasties which were cooked straight from frozen. It did use not 1 but 2 lots of ready rolled pastry - I do use this sometimes! It would be more economical and just as good in a big plate pie the kind where the pastry rises over the filling - for which you have made the pastry yourself - perhaps...

Chestnut and Mushroom Pie

200g mushrooms - chestnut ones are best in this - chopped
300g leeks thinly sliced
200g cooked chestnuts, roughly mashed
2 cloves garlic
1tsp dried tarragon
Creme fraiche

Pie dish - a shallow one is fine here as you have not got a very liquid filling

8oz pastry of choice - Quick Flaky would be best

1. Fry the mushrooms and leeks together gently in about 2 tbs oil till soft.
2. Add the chestnuts, garlic and herb and let it all cook a little longer.
3. Now stir in enough creme fraiche - at least half a pot - to make a sauce. Taste and season.
4. Use this to fill your dish and cover with pastry when cool. Put back in the fridge till you are ready to cook it. You could of course freeze it now but a big pie is harder to pack and to cook from frozen - though don't let me put you off.
5. Brush the pastry with an egg yolk mixed with a teaspoon of water or just use milk and cook in a hot oven No7 /22 for 30 mins or until golden and bubbling.