Chop, stir, simmer, cool, roll, shape, cut, fit, fiddle, seal, crimp, glaze and bake. I love a homemade pie but it's all too much for a weekday. You could use a fluffy potato crust, but then you still have to peel, chop, boil, butter and mash. It seems too much of an ask after a day's work, but sometimes you just want pie.
Even using a shortcut, the crust should flatter the filling. That is why a cheese and onion pasty made with puff pastry works so perfectly, as does a fruit pie made with a soft, sweet crust or a thin dusting of Parmesan cheese on a creamy pasta bake. It need not be pastry, or even potato. Yes, your pie crust can be a piece of frozen puff pastry laid casually over the entire dish, like a duvet slightly too big for the bed, but it can be grated root vegetables made crisp with butter. It can be thin slices of potato laid over the surface like cobbles, or even a thick layer of thoughtfully seasoned breadcrumbs. All that matters is the contrast between crust and filling,
I use shop-bought puff pastry without apology; it can give me a nicely crusted beef pie within an hour or so. If you need to, the trick is to take it from freezer to fridge first thing, before you go to work. Seasoned breadcrumbs are useful too, and can be made in a food processor or blender at the click of a switch. More organised cooks than myself probably keep some in their freezer. A crust in seconds. They are perfect for a cream-rich sweetcorn pie but also for a pasta and crab bake. A smashed tortilla can work too, though is probably best crowning a filling it feels at home with, such as some sort of bean stew. The pies in this chapter have crusts made from cheese, breadcrumbs, pastry, root vegetables and tortilla, and the fillings of fish, beef, vegetables, beans and pasta are made from scratch. But it is worth giving a thought to using up leftovers by turning them into a pie. The remains of a vegetable casserole such as a ratatouille can be bolstered with a crumb crust, or a little bit of stew left from the previous night topped with a pastry lid. The crust makes the leftovers go further, lends them a heartiness and gives them a new life.
Yes, a little more time than chucking chicken pieces in a wok but, as I said, sometimes you just want pie.
A few favourites
Coarsely grate a large potato, then peel and thinly slice an onion. Melt a thick slice of butter in a shallow pan, add the potato and onion and let them cook for 10 minutes or so, till they colour slightly. Scatter over a chicken or beef casserole and bake till the crust is golden and crisp.
Cut thick slices of bread into cubes, discarding the crust, and toss them in a generous quantity of olive oil. Cut thick slices of Cheddar, Gruyére or other firm, nicely sharp cheese and toss with the bread. Pile in one layer on top of the filling and brown in the oven. You should get crisp croutons floating in little pools of melted cheese. Particularly suited to a vegetable pie.
Peel and coarsely grate 300g parsnips and add 3 heaped tablespoons of finely grated fresh horseradish. Melt 50g of butter in a shallow pan, toss the parsnip in the butter till it starts to soften, place on top of a beef casserole or stew and bake for 2 hours in an oven set at 160°C/Gas 3.
Peel, boil and mash parsnips with butter and a little grated nutmeg and black pepper. Pile on top of your filling in large, cloud-like spoonfuls. Avoid the temptation to smooth the surface.
cubed beef, baby carrots, baby parsnips, garlic, flour, butter, beef or vegetable stock, celeriac, fresh horseradish
Season then brown 500g moderately-sized cubes of beef in a little oil in a pan set over a moderate heat, then add 200g whole, short, young carrots and 100g whole young parsnips and let them brown lightly. Peel and lightly squash 6 cloves of garlic and add them to the pan, then, as they colour, add 2 tablespoons of flour. Continue cooking till the flour has coloured, then stir in sooml beef or vegetable stock, and simmer for 10 minutes. Tip the filling into a small pie dish.
Peel and coarsely grate 300g celeriac, add 3 heaped tablespoons of finely grated fresh horseradish then 50g melted butter. Toss together gently, place on top of the beef filling and bake for 14-12 hours in an oven set at 160°C/Gas 3. Steamed kale on the side.
For 4-6. Pie, but with a crisp, grated vegetable crust. Earthy, mild, wholesome.
salmon, cod, prawns, cucumber, cream, capers, bread, butter, dill, lemon
Set the oven at 180°C/Gas 4. Blitz 85g white bread in a food processor with a handful of dill and the grated zest of a lemon. Peel, deseed and chop a medium cucumber.
Remove the skin from 300g salmon fillet and 200g cod fillet, cut into large chunks and put in a shallow baking dish with 250g defrosted, shelled prawns. Tuck in the cucumber. Sprinkle in a teaspoon of capers. Season, and add 50g butter in pieces, 150ml double cream and then scatter over the crumb topping. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
Serve with peas! Spoonfuls of fresh green peas.
For 4. A light, unfussy fish pie for a summer's day.
A few thoughts
Without the cream, the dish is fresher tasting but somehow less interesting.
You could punch up the heat with a teaspoon of bottled green peppercorns.
To the opposite recipe add a couple of handfuls of cooked, shelled mussels.
Swap the cod for scallops to make a richer, more 'special occasion' pie.
If cucumber isn’t your thing, try button mushrooms that you have first cooked in butter.
Change the dill to tarragon, chopping the leaves quite finely.
This pie is wonderful with leeks in it (in place of the cucumber). Slice the leeks, then sweat them in butter, covered with a lid or a piece of greaseproof paper. They will soften and sweeten.
Flatten 2 chicken breasts by wrapping them in cling film and hitting them with a rolling pin or cutlet bat, then dust them in a little seasoned flour. Melt a thick slice of butter in a shallow pan, add the chicken, then cook briefly on both sides till golden. Lift out the chicken, add a glass of Madeira to the pan then bubble and stir to dissolve any chicken bits that have been left behind in the pan. When the liquid has reduced to half its original quantity, stir in 4 tablespoons of double cream, season and simmer briefly.
chicken, onions, mushrooms, white beer, all-butter puff pastry, chicken or vegetable stock, tarragon
Peel and roughly chop 2 onions. Brown 400g diced chicken in a little oil, remove, then add the chopped onions and 100g quartered mushrooms, letting them brown. Add 3 tablespoons of flour and continue cooking for about 5 minutes, then add 330ml white beer, 300ml chicken or vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Lower the heat, then add 4 tablespoons of chopped tarragon leaves, a grinding of salt and pepper, and simmer for about 10 minutes till thick. Tip into a baking dish and leave to cool for as long as you can.
Put a ready-rolled all-butter puff pastry sheet on a work surface and, using the dish as a template, cut out a disc to fit the top. Lay the pastry disc gently on top of the sauce, then cut three slits with the point of a knife. Decorate with the remaining pastry, cut into leaves or whatever you fancy. Bake at 180°C/Gas 4 for 30 minutes.
For 4. Sometimes, you just want pie.
A classic macaroni cheese recipe is made with about 250g cooked short macaroni and a good s0oml béchamel sauce — I use the ready-made stuff but you could make your own, if you prefer. I add about 75g grated cheese (whatever kind needs using up) to the sauce and top it with a generous scattering of grated Parmesan.
To a classic mac and cheese recipe (made with either a rich béchamel sauce, grated Cheddar and Parmesan or a contemporary version with creme fraiche, fontina and Parmesan), add a soft, ripe blue cheese, such as Gorgonzola.
To a traditional cheese-sauce-style recipe, add a stirring of sliced leeks that you have cooked very slowly in a generous amount of butter without allowing them to colour.
brown and white crabmeat, pasta, milk, double cream, Dijon mustard, grain mustard, breadcrumbs, Parmesan
Set the oven at 180°C/Gas 4. Boil 250g medium-sized pasta, such as penne, serpentelli or macaroni, in deep, well-salted boiling water for about g minutes, till tender. Drain and return to the saucepan, then add 40oml milk, 250ml double cream, a tablespoon of Dijon mustard and 2 tablespoons of grain mustard and bring to the boil. Lower the heat, stir in 175g brown crabmeat and simmer gently, stirring often, for about 5 minutes.
Stir in 126g white crabmeat, check the seasoning, then tip into a deep baking dish. Mix 25g fresh white breadcrumbs with 25g grated Parmesan cheese and bake for 20 minutes, till bubbling round the edges.
For 4. Rich, sweet and unctuous.
Make little sweetcorn fritters by draining a can of sweetcorn, tipping it into a bowl, then adding a couple of beaten egg yolks, some salt and black pepper, and enough flour to make a heavy batter. Beat the two egg whites to a stiff froth, then fold into the sweetcorn mixture. Heat butter in a frying pan until sizzling, then drop large spoonfuls of the batter into the pan and cook till golden on the underside. Turn with a palette knife, cook the other side and drain briefly on kitchen paper before eating.
canned sweetcorn, onion, potatoes, smoked bacon rashers, milk, double cream, parsley, breadcrumbs, butter
Set the oven at 180°C/Gas 4. Peel and slice an onion and let it soften in 30g butter over a moderate heat. Cut 350g potaioes into quite small cubes and add them to the pan, then cut 8 rashers of smoked bacon into pieces the size of a postage stamp, and stir into the onions and potatoes. When the potatoes are tender, add 200ml milk and 200ml double cream to the pan with two 300g cans of sweetcorn and continue cooking for 10 minutes.
To make the crust, in a shallow pan melt 50g butter over a moderate heat then mix in a large handful of chopped parsley and 80g breadcrumbs and leave to colour lightly.
Transfer the sweetcorn mixture to an oven dish, scatter over the breadcrumb crust and bake for 20 minutes.
For 4. Sweet crunch and cream.
You can tweak a sweetcorn pie deliciously
To the recipe opposite add blanched broccoli, cut into large florets.
Drop the bacon and use cooked sausage instead, or shredded salami.
Use canned beans, such as cannellini or haricot, drained of their liquid, in place of half the sweetcorn. The dish is not as sweet this way, but is even more substantial.
Heat some bacon fat or ibérico fat, or if you must, olive oil, in a large pan, then use it to cook a sliced onion. Add a sprig or two of thyme, some lightly crushed juniper berries, a glass of sparkling wine — nothing too extravagant — then add shredded kale and stir briefly before covering with a lid and simmering for 10 minutes. As the kale becomes tender, add salt and pepper. An uplifting dish to accompany a pork-based main course.
Remove the tough stems from the kale. Simmer the leaves in chicken stock for 10-15 minutes till soft and dark, then drain and set both stock and kale aside. Have ready some rounds of hot, toasted sourdough bread. Rub the bread with a cut clove of young garlic, place in a shallow bowl, then spoon over a little of the hot stock. Add the cooked kale, trickle with fruity, verdant green olive oil, and finish with a mean squeeze of lemon and coarse flakes of sea salt.
kale, flaked almonds, red onions, cream, béchamel sauce, Parmesan
Set the oven at 200°C/Gas 6. Peel and finely slice 2 red onions into rounds. Warm a little groundnut or rapeseed oil in 2 shallow pan, then add the onions and fry till soft and, here and there, pale gold.
Remove the tender leaves from 400g kale and chop the coarse stems. Add the chopped stems to the onions and continue cooking till the kale has softened and brightened. Add the kale leaves and stir, cooking for only a couple of minutes, then add 25g flaked almonds.
Tip the onion and kale mixture into an ovenproof dish, stir 300ml double cream into 500ml béchamel sauce (ready-made is fine) with a good handful of grated Parmesan, then check the seasoning.
Pour over the kale and onion, then scatter with a little more Parmesan and a further 25g almonds. Bake for 30 minutes, till golden and bubbling.
For 4. A green vegetable. A cheese and cream sauce. The crunch of almonds.
chorizo, pinto beans, tortillas, sun-dried tomatoes in oil, onion, garlic, Cheddar
Slice 450g chorizo cooking sausages into short lengths. Drain 100g sun-dried tomatoes (keep the oil) and chop them roughly. Fry the sausage in a shallow pan with 4 tablespoons of the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes. Peel and slice an onion, add to the pan and cook for 10 minutes till the onion softens, then add a crushed clove of garlic. Drain a 400g can of pinto beans and tip them into the pan. Season, then transfer to a baking dish.
Tear 4 tortillas into pieces, toss with the sun-dried tomatoes, scatter over the beans followed by 6 tablespoons of grated Cheddar. Bake for 10 minutes at 200°C/Gas 6. Serve with an avocado salad.
For 4. Filling, earthy and fun.