Vegetable Pie Recipe

In the early days of my relationship with my husband, he expressed a liking for pies and pasties. Being an omnivore, he can pick up Cornish pasties anywhere, but the veggie options are often less appealing, and I wanted something I could make at home - stuffed with fresh vegetables.

I know a lot of people are nervous about making pastry, but I've always found it easy (if messy), so I started making something that looks a bit like this: just a simple pastry crust, filled with as many different vegetables as I can get my hands on.

It's different every time, but it's my husband's all-time-favourite meal. I hope you enjoy it too.

Mixed Vegetable Pie
Makes 3 pies, each of which serves 2 as a main meal

For the pastry

600g plain flour
250g butter
approx. 1/2 pint water

1. Chop the butter into small cubes and rub into the flour.
   
   
2. Add water, a little at a time, until the dough is just sticking together (1/2 pint is usually about right, but it will depend on the humidity of the air & the absorbancy of the flour, so start with less).
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Knead for a couple of minutes, then cover the bowl with a tea-towel and set aside to rest while you prepare the filling.
   

For the filling

6 medium potatoes
3 medium carrots
1 large courgette
1 large leek
6 large broccoli florets
1/2 red pepper
1/2 yellow pepper
a handful of frozen peas
3 large mushrooms
1 large red onion
100g mature cheddar (or other cheese)
black pepper & chilli flakes (to taste)

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C and grease three deep, 8in pie dishes (loose-based dishes are much easier).
   
   
2. Chop the potatoes, carrots, courgette, and peppers into small (approx 1/2in) pieces. Thinly slice the leek, red onion, and cheese. Cut mushrooms into thick slices, and halve the brocolli florets.
   
   
3. Cook the potatoes, carrots, courgettes, peppers, leek, and broccoli, but stop a couple of minutes before you would if you were going to eat them directly.
   
   
4. Divide the pastry into 4. For three of the pieces, roll out into a large circles and line the pie dishes with pastry. Reserve the final quarter for making lids.
   
   
5. Divide the vegetables between the three pie dishes. I start with root vegetables at the bottom, then a layer of cheese, onion & mushrooms, then topped off with green vegetables & peppers. Season liberally with black pepper and chilli (optional) at each layer.
   
   
   
6. Divide the remaining pastry into 3, and roll out to make lids. Pinch onto the overhanging edges of the base, then punch some holes in the lid to let the steam out.
   
   
7. Bake for 35 mins at 200°C.
   
   
• Typically, I bake one of the three pies, and freeze the other two in their raw state; defrost overnight in the fridge the night before you want to cook them.