Extraordinarily Easy Homemade Pie

It’s officially Autumn and for me that signals the start of pie season. Being a true Northern girl, I whole-heartedly love pie! I’m always looking for new fillings and new ways to make pies interesting. I’m very lucky in that I have a number of family and friends who love growing vegetables and whenever they have surplus, I get a bag of goodies.

Recently I was given 1.5kg of courgettes and marrows and I decided to put them in a lovely cheesy pie. Obviously this dish is great for vegetarians, but it’s also a really filling non-meat meal to get kids to eat a lot of veg and also great for minimising your red meat intake.

In terms of the pastry, this recipe is incredibly simple to achieve and can of course be used for all sorts. It’s basically a short-crust pastry and can therefore be used for any pie, sweet and savoury tarts and of course a good quiche.

This particular pie is absolutely delicious. The pastry is really rich and crumbly, and the filling is packed full of gorgeous cheesy flavour as well as the fragrant, tender courgettes and marrow.

Extraordinarily Easy Homemade Pie

Serves 12

For the pastry:

500g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

250g cold unsalted butter, cubed

Sea salt and pepper

1 large egg, beaten

For the filling:

Olive oil

A bunch of fresh thyme

1 whole nutmeg

1 lemon

1.5kg courgette/marrow/a mixture, finely sliced

Sea salt and pepper

300g cheese, 

strong cheddar works really well ,

but parmesan or Lincolnshire Poacher cheese are also great,

grated

A small bunch of fresh mint, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Blitz the flour and butter in a food processor with a pinch of salt and good amount of pepper until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Tip onto a work surface, make a well in the centre and add 100ml of cold water. Gently mix until it starts to come together, then – most importantly for a short, crumbly pastry – just press the mixture together until it forms a ball. Don’t worry if it feels like its falling apart, just do your best to get it into a ball and put it in a floured bowl, cover with clingfilm and chill in the fridge. DO NOT KNEAD THE DOUGH. It will ruin it, just let the fridge do its work and it will firm it up.

Put a drizzle of olive oil into a large pan on a medium heat and snip in the leaves from half of the bunch of thyme. Add a few gratings of nutmeg, the zest of half the lemon, the sliced courgettes and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Cook gently (the longer you cook, the easier the courgettes will be to handle), stirring occasionally, for around 25 minutes, until the mixture is dense and the flavours have really intensified. Allow to cool a little, then add the cheese and the mint leaves. Set aside.

Take the pastry out of the fridge, halve it and roll each half into a large circle, or oval, depending on the shape of your pie dish, 1cm thick and slightly larger than the dish you’ve chosen. Your pie dish should be roughly 23cm diameter and 4cm deep. Don’t worry if the pastry breaks up, this is normal and it can be patched up. Roll one of the circles round the rolling pin and carefully unroll it over the pie dish. Gentle press it into the sides of the dish, then spoon and spread all your courgette/marrow mixture into the dish. Carefully, unroll the pastry lid on top of the pie and, then flour your thumbs and forefinger and gently pinch and crimp around the edge. Trim off any excess pastry, brush liberally with the beaten egg and bake for an hour or until the pie is golden.

Serve warm with mash and either roasted shallots or pickled beetroot. Also amazing served cold the next day with a salad and piccalilli.