St Patrick's Day Pie

 

 

Even if you're not a vegetarian you may occasionally fancy a tasty vegetable dish.  With St Patrick's Day coming on March 17th, here's the perfect pie from the Vegetarian Society.

St Patrick's Day Pie with Colcannon

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Serves 4
Ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
250g chestnut mushrooms, halved
1 medium carrot, diced
1 stick celery, diced
50g pearl barley, rinsed
60g Puy lentils, rinsed
2 x 400ml can Guinness or vegetarian stout
100ml vegetable stock
dried porcini mushrooms, chopped
1 ⁄ tsp vegetarian gravy granules
Salt and pepper, to taste

Pastry
500g shortcrust pastry
50g plain our, for rolling out
1 free-range egg, beaten, for brushing

Colcannon
500g potatoes, peeled and diced
50g salted butter
2 tbsp semi-skimmed milk
 savoy cabbage, sliced
Salt and pepper, to taste

METHOD
Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3. 

To make the pies: In a frying pan, heat the oil and sauté the onion over a medium heat until starting to turn golden. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms, carrot and celery. Cook for another 5 minutes. Add the pearl barley and lentils to the pan with the Guinness, vegetable stock and porcini mushrooms. Bring to a simmer and allow to cook gently until the pearl barley has softened.

Mix in the gravy granules and bring to the boil for a few minutes. Check the consistency of the sauce is not too watery and season to taste. At this point, drain off some of the gravy and set aside to use for a gravy at the end.

Roll out the pastry to ½cm thickness. Use a 9 x 6 cm pie ring to cut out four bases and four lids. Roll the base out slightly larger as this must line the insides of the ring. With the spare pieces of pastry make decorations to go on top of the pie lid, such as shamrocks. 

Grease 4 separate 9 x 6cm pie rings with butter.
Place the base inside the pie ring, line with oven-proof clinglm or non-stick baking parchment. Fill with baking beans and bake blind in the oven for 30 minutes. 

Remove the baking beans and clingfilm. Carefully fill the pie with the filling mixture and attach the lid on top. Egg wash the lid and bake for 40 minutes or until the pastry is cooked through and golden.
 

For the Colcannon
In a pan of cold water, add the potatoes and then bring to the boil. Turn down to a simmer until just cooked.

Using a colander, strain the potatoes and return to the pan. Mash them thoroughly for 5 minutes.
Add the butter and milk, then continue to mash for another 5 minutes.

Cook the cabbage in boiling water for 4 minutes and strain. Mix the cabbage into the mash and season to taste.

Take a look at these websites for more kitchen information and pictures:
Country Kitchens
Kitchen Gallery