roasted butternut squash, broccoli and pea all-in-one pie

… yesterday I had lunch with a dear friend… she has recently finished working at a company where she’d been for over twenty years and where – with no exaggeration – she helped shape the face of the British PR industry.  She started working in the industry, like me, at a time when we didn’t even have email, let alone the internet. Connections were made by going out and meeting people, literally running from company to company with news, samples, details of new products… we built up our little black books alongside our contemporaries and new information was like gold.  It simply doesn’t happen that way anymore.  It seems there is very little respect for working ones way up through the ranks, we want instant glory without the graft.  I’m not actually complaining here, it’s just a reflection on the way it has become.  I was helping my friend set up a blog.  As you can imagine she’s had an incredible life with some wonderful stories to tell and she wants a place to write it all down… I really enjoyed helping her start her on-line diary but it fascinated me that she doesn’t have a Facebook account… even my mum has a Facebook account!  In this world that we populate with our blogs and social media I can’t think of anything more liberating than not having a Facebook account… don’t worry though dear reader.  This still remains very much a fantasy…

roasted butternut squash, broccoli and pea pie
As I mentioned in the last post, I inadvertently made puff pasty the other day… I had wanted to make regular shortcrust but I think my butter was too cold so it didn’t fully crumble and then I made the dough too wet so I chilled it for longer than usual and then when I was ready to use it I thought that the best way to deal with it was to treat it like puff pastry and fold it a few times… well as you can see from both posts there’s no complaints from me but I do love how a simple accident can make for a stunning pastry, a pastry that can send fear into the hearts of the hardiest cooks!

Spring was most definitely in the air last weekend when I made this pie and I chose the ingredients to reflect the transition from colder months into warmer… the butternut squash adding it’s rich creaminess to the lighter, fresher flavours coming from the peas and broccoli.  Of course it’s still chilly enough to warrant a thick cheesy white sauce and this one is a classic.  The whole dish can be a little time consuming but oh boy is it worth it…

for the pastry
220g plain flour
100g butter – cold but not fridge cold – cut into small pieces
a pinch of salt
a little cold water
a tablespoon of dried oregano
75g strong cheddar – grated

for the cheese sauce
40g butter
40g plain flour
1 pint of milk or 1/2 pint of milk and 1/2 pint stock
75g strong cheddar (or any cheese)
pepper

for the filling
1 butternut squash – peeled and diced
150g sprouting long-stemmed broccoli – chopped
100g frozen peas
salt and pepper
fresh rosemary and thyme
olive oil

to make the pastry, sieve the flour into a large bowl, add the butter and rub it into the flour, raising your hands high as you do to allow plenty of air to get into the flour.  This rubbing process will not be easy as the butter is cold but you’re not after a fine breadcrumb, you want some large pieces of butter in there

add the oregano and salt and mix in then add a few drops of water and using one hand shaped like a claw begin to stir the flour and butter together, it should start to come together into a dough but you’ll need a dribble in a little more water for it to fully come together… I actually ended up with far too wet a dough

once the dough is formed, tip it out onto some cling film, pat it out into a flattish disk, wrap it up and pop it in the fridge for 15 mins

once cold, take it out of the fridge and, still on the cling film, roll it out to double its size, then you want to envelope-fold the dough, which means folding the top over and the bottom up to create an envelope, then roll flat, turn by 90 degrees and envelope-fold again.  Wrap it back up and refrigerate for a further 30 mins, it should now be ready to use.

pre-heat the oven to 170C

to make the pie, place the butternut squash into your pie dish, drizzle over a little olive oil, season well with salt and pepper and sprinkle over plenty of fresh herbs – cover in foil and roast in the oven for 20 mins, then remove from the oven, un-cover, stir in the broccoli and peas, re-cover and pop back in the oven for a further 10 mins or until the veg are al-dente.  Remove from the oven and set aside

make the cheese sauce by melting the butter gently in a small pan, once melted, remove from the heat and stir in the flour into a smooth but thick paste then add a dash of the milk/stock and stir into a paste.

place the pan back on a gentle heat and slowly add a little milk at a time, stirring well between additions… if it looks like it may become lumpy take the pan off the heat and stir until smooth.  Continue this way until all the milk is gone and you have a nicely thick sauce – let it bubble away very gently on the heat for 10 minutes, stirring regularly.  Add the cheese sauce and set aside

pour the cheese sauce over the vegetables in the pie dish and set aside to cool for at least 15 minutes before you attempt the lattice pastry crust

roll out the pastry into a large oblong and then cut it into 6 long strips and 8 shorter strips (this is just a guide…)

lay the long strips lengthways along pie dish, with gaps in between, then take one shorter strip and, starting from one edge of the pie dish, weave it over and under each long strip… continue this way until all your pastry strips are woven.  I like it looking quite rough and ready but feel free to trim to make it nice and neat

brush with a little beaten egg before baking for 25 mins or until the pastry is golden and puffy

eat and of course, enjoy!