If I had my way, I’d turn every meal into a pie opportunity. It’s easier than most people think: Leftover chickpeas from making hummus, leftover greens from your veggie box, the 2 sad pieces of al faham chicken nobody wanted at dinner last night, the bits and bobs in a curry that just doesn’t seem to get over. All of it is game. Bring it all together in a creamy, comforting sauce, blanketed with crisp, buttery pastry and everything is right in the world for as long as it takes to eat your dinner in front of a nice TV show.
I’ve made quite a few pies over the last few weeks. There was pumpkin and beans and chicken in one, there was kale, pumpkin and chicken in another and mushroom, pumpkin and chicken in the last one, which was my favourite. Pumpkin, because I was trying to keep it seasonal. As for the pastry, I topped one with puff pastry, another with puff pastry that I rolled out (don’t roll out ready-made pastry — I panicked), and one with biscuit. I saw Molly Yeh make biscuit with blue cheese in it, and I thought it would be a nice way to use up some mushroom goat cheese I had on hand. It was delicious and my favourite of all the toppings. Sajjad loves puff, and mum thinks shortcust is classic and best. It’s a real choose your own adventure. The one thing to keep in mind if you’re making biscuit, is to make sure your baking powder is aluminium-free. Because it uses a tablespoon of it, if you’re using a baking powder that contains aluminium, you’re going to taste that metallic bitterness. Just something to keep in mind.
Recipe: Roasted Pumpkin, Mushroom and Chicken Pie
Ingredients
For the filling
400 g boneless chicken thighs
1 large onion, chopped
200 g pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
200 g mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp miso (I used yellow, use whatever you have. If it’s a darker one, start with a little less, taste, and add more if you’d like)
1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard
5 cloves garlic, with the skin on
1 tbsp butter
1 heaped tbsp flour
Handful of grated parmesan (optional)
1 cup milk
Neutral oil
Salt & pepper
For the pastry
Puff or shortcrust pastry sheet that’s large enough to cover the opening of your baking dish
2 tbsp milk
Handful sesame seeds
Method
To make the filling
Add salt and pepper to the chicken and set aside.
Place the pumpkin and garlic in the air fryer basket. Toss with salt, 1 tbsp oil and air fry on 200 for 10 minutes, or until its golden and crisp on the edges. You can do this in an oven, if you don’t have an air fryer bake in a convection oven at 200 degrees Celsius for roughly 20 minutes, until they are golden around the edges and cooked through.
Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan. Place the chicken pieces in the pan, without crowding it (do this step in batches if needed), and sear for a few minutes until brown, about 4 minutes on each side.
Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
Add the mushrooms and let them cook on high heat until they get a bit of colour. You don’t have to move it around a lot. It’ll release water first, and then start to fry, so be patient.
While the mushrooms are browning, shred the chicken.
When the mushrooms have browned, add in the onions and saute for 2-3 minutes.
Next, in goes the butter, followed by the flour.
Stir everything vigorously until there’s no dry floury bits seen on the pan. Continue stirring and after a minute or two, pour in the milk.
Give everything a good mix, making sure there are no lumps. Add a cup of water.
Next, stir in the miso and the mustard. Check for seasoning, and continue to simmer on a low heat until the sauce thickens.
Add the shredded chicken, and the airfried pumpkin into the pan. Peel the garlic, and add that in as well. Turn off heat and add the parmesan if using.
Tranfer the filling to a medium-sized pie dish or baking dish ( I use one that’s slightly smaller than the diameter of a dinner plate. You don’t want one that’s too big, because then the layer of filling will be too thin. When in doubt, go smaller, rather than bigger.)
To assemble
Preheat your oven to 200 Celsius.
Brush the rim of your baking dish with milk.
Carefully place your pastry covering the pan, with a bit of overhang if possible. Crimp the edges.
Give it two slits in the centre for the steam to escape.
Brush the top with milk, sprinkle sesame seeds generously all over the pastry, and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the pastry is golden.
Enjoy!