Steve's Recipes

Thyme and Mushroom Pie
with Puff Pastry

for 6

1 red onion, sliced 2 garlic, finely sliced
0.5 oz dried porcini 4 oz carrots, finely sliced
1 lb button mushrooms, sliced 1 1/2 lb broccoli (which should weigh about 4oz less when trimmed)
2 fl oz hot water 4 fl oz white wine
3 tbs olive oil 1/2 tbs barley miso
2 tbs chopped fresh thyme 1 tbs tahini
1 tbs stock powder 1 tbs plain white flour
14 oz (420g) tin chopped plum tomatoes 1x 14 oz tin butter beans
2 tbs cream

for the pastry:

6oz plain white flour 3 oz butter
2 egg yolks 2 oz cheddar, grated
sesame seeds
1/2 tsp salt

To make the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a bowl and then rub in the butter, either by hand or in a food processor, until it resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the grated cheddar. Beat one of the egg yolks with 2 tablespoons of cold water. Blend it with the flour mixture until it forms a soft dough. Add the liquid bit by bit - you may need a little more water. Then wrap the dough in cling-film and leave it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. I don’t know what the optimum fridge time is, but I try to leave my pastry for an hour.

Set the oven to Gas mark 7. Put the porcini to soak in the hot water and the wine, for twenty minutes.

Fry the onion in the oil for a few minutes, then add in the mushrooms. It’s best to use a large saucepan not a frying pan, because everything is going to end up in pan you started with. Cover and cook gently for about ten minutes.

Steam the carrots and broccoli, over boiling water, for ten minutes, or until they are almost tender.

Stir the thyme, flour, stock powder, tamari, miso and tahini in with the cooked mushrooms. Make sure the flour is well incorporated and that there are no lumps, before adding the butter beans, tomatoes and porcini, with their liquid. Finally add the broccoli and carrots. Keep stirring for a few minutes and let all this heat through.

Remove from the heat and mix in the cream. All this now goes into a large ovenproof pie dish. On a floured board roll out the pastry to roughly the right size and shape. Wet the edges of the dish with a little water. Wrap the pastry around the rolling pin to transport it, lay it over the pie and pinch down the sides. Neatly trim off the surplus along the exterior edge of the dish. You can use the trimmings to decorate the pie as you wish - a lattice of twisted long strips of pastry looks pretty. Brush the pastry with a beaten egg yolk and then scatter over some sesame seeds.

Bake for about 45 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown.

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