New ideas for pies, from cod and chorizo to chestnut and mushroom
The chandeliers in the dining room at Claridge’s are glittering. The long tables are covered in posies of autumnal flowers and gently glowing candles. It looks like the best wedding, except that we don’t have to listen to speeches; it’s actually a dinner to celebrate the launch of the hotel’s new cookbook.
And what, on the menu, excites this gathering of food-weary professionals? Is it the lobster risotto or the Dom Pérignon?
No. ‘Chicken pie!’ they all coo as the waiting staff slip perfect versions on to every plate.
You would think our love of pies was hardwired. There is no reason, in evolutionary terms, why we should have such a yearning for them, except that we all need care and that is what pies signal.
They are, essentially, gentle. You don’t need a knife to tackle a pie. You can push the side of your fork through the pastry or potato topping and simply scoop up a filling that comes in small pieces. The work has already been done for you.
We are back in childhood, when our mums cut our food up and made sure that every mouthful was easy to eat. A dish that acts as powerfully on my emotions as the smell of my children’s baby clothes is my mum’s minced-meat pie. It’s an old-fashioned plate pie, pastry top and bottom, the juices rich with onions and carrots. It can almost make me cry.
I hope my own children might one day feel a fraction as happy about my shepherd’s pie, the dish I cook for them more than any other.
For me, a pie doesn’t have to have pastry, it can have a mashed potato topping (or one of potato mixed with other root vegetables), or a decorative roof of overlapping potato slices. If it does have pastry, it can be on the top only, or be fully enclosed with pastry on both the top and bottom.
And what is the secret of a good pie? The filling shouldn’t be hot when the pie is being assembled. Mash will sink into a hot filling rather than sit on its surface and the fat in your pastry will melt. The seasoning must be assertive – a bland filling is a bitter disappointment – and the pastry should be properly sealed (though juices bubbling through in dark golden pools enhances anticipation); a potato topping should be taken to the edges of the pie dish.
It’s certainly worth learning how to improve your pie making and extend your repertoire. Right now, every day gets dark earlier than the one before. As the clouds close in, a pie – burnished and almost caramelised in patches – won’t just lift the cold-weather gloom, it will transform it.
Cod and chorizo pie with saffron mash
SERVES
6-8
INGREDIENTS
750g thick cod fillets, skin removed, pin-boned
550ml full fat milk
100ml dry white wine or vermouth
4 bay leaves
10 black peppercorns
½ small onion, thickly sliced, plus 1 roughly chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
400g cherry tomatoes, halved
50g butter
2 garlic cloves, crushed to a purèe
200g chorizo, skin removed, chopped
40g flour
small bunch parsley (leaves only), chopped
50ml double cream
For the mash
100ml milk
generous pinch of saffron
900g floury potatoes (I like Maris Piper), peeled and halved
25g butter
7 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
METHOD
Put the cod into a sauté pan and cover with the milk and wine or vermouth. Add the bay leaves, peppercorns and sliced onion and bring to a gentle simmer. Cover with a lid, lower the heat and poach the fish for 2 minutes. Turn the heat off and leave the pan for another 5 minutes, then remove the lid.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and cook the tomatoes over a medium heat until soft and falling apart, about 10 minutes. The mixture should be moist but not wet. Season and set aside.
Heat the butter in another pan and sauté the chopped onion until soft, about 8 minutes, then add the garlic and chorizo and cook for another 2 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for a minute. Remove from the heat.
Remove the fish from the milk mixture and strain the liquid. Add the liquid gradually to the chorizo, stirring well to ensure that the mixture is smooth. Put the pan back over the heat and bring to the boil, stirring all the time. The sauce should thicken. Stir in the parsley and cream, bring to the boil and check the seasoning. Leave to cool.
To make the mash topping, gently heat the milk with the saffron then leave to infuse.
Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6.
Boil the potatoes until tender (about 20 minutes), drain and return to the pan. Mash them well with the infused milk, some salt, pepper and the butter, then gradually add the olive oil, beating with a wooden spoon as you go.
Assemble the pie, putting half the sauce in the base of a deep round pie dish, then the fish, then the tomatoes, then the rest of the sauce. Top with the mash.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until the top is slightly golden and you can see that the filling is bubbling up round the edges. Serve with green vegetables or a dressed green salad.
Pumpkin, spinach, feta and preserved lemon pie
SERVES
8
INGREDIENTS
1.4kg pumpkin or squash
olive oil, for drizzling
2 garlic cloves, grated to a purèe
750g spinach, any coarse stalks removed
60g butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
500g ricotta
4 medium eggs
300g feta, crumbled
small bunch dill, leaves only, roughly chopped
275g filo pastry (sheets about 30 x 38cm)
4 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
2 preserved lemons, flesh discarded, rind chopped
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6.
Quarter, deseed and cut the pumpkin or squash into wedges, then peel them. Place in a roasting tin, drizzle with oil and season. Roast for about 25 minutes, or until just soft and slightly caramelised at the tips. Toss with the garlic and leave to cool.
Put the spinach into a large saucepan with the water that clings to it after washing. Cover and set over a low heat. Let the spinach wilt for about 5 minutes, turning it over a couple of times to make sure it doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan. Squeeze all the water out of the spinach with your fists, or press it between two plates (this is really important or you’ll end up with a watery pie that won’t set). Roughly chop the spinach.
Heat 25g of the butter in a pan and add the onion. Sauté till soft but not coloured, then add the spinach. Turn over in the butter, season and set aside.
In a bowl, mix together the ricotta, eggs, feta, dill and some seasoning.
Melt the rest of the butter and use some of it to brush the base and sides of a 26cm springform cake tin.
Put six whole sheets of filo into the tin, positioning them like the spokes of a wheel and overlapping, all the way round. The sheets should hang over the sides of the tin by about 11cm. Butter each sheet as you go along. Do a second layer of overlapping six sheets in the same way.
Spoon the spinach on top of the filo, then the cheese and egg mixture. Put the pumpkin or squash on top. Sprinkle on the parsley and preserved lemon.
Bring the pastry up over the sides of the pie, scrunching the ends as if you’re making rose shapes. Brush with the remaining butter. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the pie is a lovely golden colour.
Unclasp the sides of the tin, run a broad knife or palette knife between the base of the pie and the tin bottom and slide the pie on to a serving plate – it’s heavy with filling, so be careful.
Celeriac, potato, chestnut and wild mushroom pie
SERVES
6
INGREDIENTS
500g potatoes (I like Maris Piper)
500g celeriac
425ml double cream
140ml sour cream
85ml whole milk
2 garlic cloves, very finely sliced
2 sprigs thyme, leaves only
200g fresh wild mushrooms or chestnut or oyster mushrooms, or a mixture
15g unsalted butter
100g cooked chestnuts, vacuum-packed or frozen
300g puff pastry
2 egg yolks, beaten with 3 tsp milk
METHOD
Peel the potatoes and celeriac and slice very finely (almost wafer-thin); a mandolin does the best job but you can also use a very sharp knife.
In a large saucepan, mix together the creams and milk and bring to just under the boil. Add the sliced potatoes and celeriac, garlic and thyme and cook gently for 5-7 minutes. The vegetables should be starting to soften.
Chop the mushrooms. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the mushrooms and sauté briskly over a medium-high heat, seasoning them as they cook. You want to get a good colour and also cook off the moisture, otherwise they will make your pie watery.
Slice the chestnuts. Season the potatoes and celeriac well and spoon half into a buttered pie dish (you will need one with a lip, so it’s easier to attach the pastry). Lay the chestnuts and mushrooms on top, then spoon on the rest of the vegetables. Leave to cool. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6 and put a baking sheet into it.
Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface to the thickness of a one pound coin. Cut strips of pastry the same width as the lip of the pie dish, enough to cover all the way round. Brush the egg yolk mixture over the lip and press the pastry strips on to it. Cut out a lid, a little larger than your dish. Brush the pastry on the lip with egg wash and put the lid on top, pressing it down to seal. Use leftover pastry to decorate the top and make three tiny slits near the centre. Brush with the egg wash.
Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, putting the dish on top of the baking sheet, until the pie is golden and the vegetables are tender.