Any Veg Pie

The Pastry

Ingredients

• 450g plain flour
• 100g lard
• 100g margarine
• (200g craft butter)
• Pinch of salt
• 1 sprig picked thyme
• 50-60g cold water

This is enough pastry for a six-inch pie dish. I use an old Be-Ro recipe I’ve stuck to since I saw my mum using them all my childhood. I think I’ve even got the first Be-Ro recipe she “gave” me. Why change something that’s worked for over 100 years? But instead of using marg and lard (OK, I changed it a little), we make our own cultured butter here at Craft, so I’ve used 200g of this. Not just because we salt it and it’s ready to go, but because it gives our pastry a little cheesy aftertaste that is somewhat perfect for our “any veg” pie.

Method

Add the butter into the flour and chop through it with a knife and work a little. Add the thyme leaves, and the salt and then the water. Bring together and knead lightly on a floured surface. Wrap in clingfilm and chill. While the pastry is resting, take your veggies; it doesn’t matter what you use, as long as they’re sliced quite thin and flashed in a pan beforehand.

The Filling

Ingredients

• 1 red pepper
• 1 courgette
• 1 small aubergine
• A small squash
• 1 leek
• 1 small cauliflower
• 30g old Winchester, or any British hard cheese (I used old Winnie because it’s very rich in flavour)
• Chopped chives
• Egg wash

Method

Set the oven to gas mark 7, or 170°C, and grease your pie tin.

Start slicing the veg thinly into rounds. With the squash, make sure you peel it first or use a large cutter. Roast them in the oven with a little thyme, salt, sugar and oil, till it is almost cooked. Then pan-fry to quickly colour the veg.

Slightly season, then add the sliced leeks and cauliflower. It’s a very quick action, so as not to overcook the vegetables; you don’t want to burn the veg, but slightly scorching it doesn’t do any harm. When they’re coloured, place them on a tray and allow them to cool. While they’re resting, line the pastry case. Make sure it’s not too thick to prevent it from cooking properly and not too thin that it breaks while you’re lining up the dish. Then take the cheese and use a potato peeler and make thin slices. Mix your chopped chives with the veg and a little rapeseed oil, taste for seasoning.

Take the veg, and layer up all the different colours; on each layer, add some cheese (as much or little as you want, but you want it to ooze a little and make a sauce by its own emulsion of the veg juices and cheese). Press a little on the top layer, making sure it’s flat and evenly spread. Roll some more pastry. Take a cutter big enough for the pie top. Place on top and crimp the edges, sealing all the way around. Now egg-wash liberally.

Depending on how good your oven is, it should take between 15 and 20 minutes. Give it a cheeky egg wash halfway though, just to make sure your pastry is super-crisp and golden-brown.

We served ours with some minted new potatoes. I cooked them in mint stalks, water salt and sugar, and a little onion trim. I chopped the mint up, and when the potatoes were cooked, I took some of the water, added a little butter and made an emulsion. Slice the potatoes in half, add the chopped mint, a little salt and serve.

Thomas Greig, head chef at Craft London