This Month's Recipe...
Puff pastry pie filled with squash and washed-rind cheese, from Kitchenella.
This recipe is one I shared with Laura Hynd, whose photographs illustrate The Lost Kitchen. I have worked with Laura since 2007. Sent on an assignment to Italy, we drove through a thunderstorm, arriving late for dinner. I had warned Sarah Sesti, our host, in advance that Laura did not eat meat or fish. 'Pig's liver, OK?' she said, relieved we had finally arrived. Um, Laura doesn’t . . .’ I started.But without blinking Sarah produced a dish Laura could eat. I vaguely remember her making a frittata (vegetable omelette) in minutes, or something similar. What a contrast to the afterthought vegetarian option, often added grudgingly to chef’s menus in restaurants where facilities are perfect for a variety of choice. Whenever I work with Laura she unwittingly concentrates my mind on vegetables, and ways to use them that honour both the vegetable, and the person who loves them.
This is a pie to eat hot or at room temperature; the pungency of the cheese counters the sweetness of squash. I like it baked properly, at a high temperature, with dark glistening pastry.
Serves 4–6
Ingredients
1 medium butternut squash, quartered, the seeds removed
1 tablespoon olive oil
500g/1lb 2oz ready prepared puff pastry
plain flour for dusting
salt and black pepper
4 egg yolks, beaten
1 whole egg, beaten
100ml/3 1/2fl oz milk
100ml/3 1/2fl oz double cream
200g slices of semi-soft, washed-rind cheese, e.g. Stinking Bishop, Celtic Promise, Munster – or any smelly French cheese
1 egg, for glaze
Method
You will need a shallow 25cm/10in baking tin.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Rub the squash with the olive oil, place in a roasting tin and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove, allow to cool a little; cut the flesh from the hard skin and slice. Set to one side.
Cut the pastry in half, dust the work surface with flour and roll out each piece into a circle, slightly larger than the baking tin. Roll the pastry as thinly as possible. Take one piece and line the baking tin with it.
Fill the pasty liner with the squash. Season with salt and pepper. Mix together the egg yolks, eggs, milk and cream and carefully pour over the squash, but do not overfill. You will probably have some of the mixture left – it is hard to say. Lay the slices of cheese on top of the squash. Brush the edges of the pastry liner with the beaten egg and place the second circle of pastry on top. Pinch the edges together. Brush the whole surface with the beaten egg and make a cut in the centre of the pie with a knife to allow steam to escape during baking. Bake for 45 minutes then remove from the oven and serve.
