Some of the gifts on my wishlist for Christmas were some Alan Silverwood pans. They are great, really easy to clean (but NOT Dishwasher safe), and really non-stick. One of them was a 4in Pork Pie tin, which I hadn’t used yet. Time to rectify that:

Cheesey Vegetable Pie Recipe (Modified from Paul Hollywood’s Hand-raised Pie recipe, taken from The Great British Bake Off: How to turn everyday bakes into showstoppers by Linda Collister, or available here, from BBC Food)

Ingredients

Hot Water Crust Pastry

200g plain flour

40g strong white flour

50g unsalted butter, chilled and diced

60g vegetable fat

1tsp salt

beaten egg, to glaze

Filling

3 medium potatoes

assorted other vegetables, I used about half a head of Broccoli, and some frozen mixed veg out of the freezer

40g unsalted butter

25g plain flour

425ml milk

salt and pepper, to taste

dried thyme, to taste

150g cheddar cheese, grated, or in small chunks

Method

Put both the flours in a mixing bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture looks like fine crumbs (alternatively, you could do this stage in the food processor, just whizz until the two are fully combined).

Meanwhile, put the fat, salt, and 100ml boiling water into a pan and heat until the fat has melted.

Pour the fat onto the flour mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together into a dough.

Tip the dough onto a lightly floured worktop and work until it forms a smooth ball.

Reserve about a quarter of the dough for lids, then use the remainder to line the tins. I used my shiny new 4in pork pie tin that I got for christmas.

Set each on a lined baking sheet and chill for 20 minutes, or until firm, then take the reserved pastry and roll out to make discs 13cm across (or to fit the size of the pies that have been moulded), make a hole in the centre, then chill along with the cases.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.

Cook the vegetables in a pan of boiling water, meanwhile prepare the cheesey sauce.

Combine the flour, butter and milk in a pan, whisking the mixture until the butter has melted, and the flour has dissolved. Keep stirring until the mixture starts to thicken, then add the cheese and thyme. Keep stirring until the sauce has thickened, and the vegetables are cooked.

Drain the vegetables, and add to the sauce, mixing well.

Remove the pastry cases from the fridge, and put the vegetable mix in, finishing off with a lid.

Set the pies on a lined baking sheet and brush with beaten egg to glaze, then bake for 50-60 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden.

—————————————————————————————————————————————

I made some individual pies using a muffin tin:

But here is my big one:

When I removed it from the tin, here was the full shot:

But here’s the money shot:

It was lush.