A hearty vegetarian dish, perfect for a cold autumn/winter dinner.
Serves 6
Ingredients:
1 pack of pre-made puff pastry
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
30g butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 & 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
1 kg waxy potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
100g Stilton, crumbled
100g Gruyere cheese, grated
140ml creme fraiche
60ml double cream
100g cheddar cheese, grated
Black Pepper
1 egg, whisked with a fork
You’ll need: 1 large deep pie dish (approx 20cm diameter)
1. Put the onions in a frying pan with the butter, salt and sugar and fry over a low heat until lightly caramelised. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Cook the potatoes in boiling water for approx 7 minutes. Carefully drain and set aside.
3. Mix the Stilton and Gruyere together in a bowl. In another bowl mix together the creme fraiche, double cream and cheddar.
4. Begin layering the filling into the pie dish. For the first layer use 1/4 of the potatoes, 1/3 of the onions and 1/3 of the Stilton mixture then season with pepper. Make 2 more layers using 1/4 of the potatoes, 1/3 of the onions, 1/3 of the Stilton mixture, 1/2 of the cream mixture and pepper to season. For the final layer top with the last 1/4 of potato slices.
5. Cut a thin strip from the pastry, brush a little egg on the rim of the pie dish and stick the pastry strip to it. Brush the top of the strip with more egg. Cover the pie with the pastry and press the edges to the strips on the rim to seal, then trim the pastry around the edge of the pie dish. Use a fork to press the pastry together around the edge. Brush the pie with the egg wash and cut a slit in the top of the pastry. Chill for 15 minutes, meanwhile preheat the oven to 220C.
6. Put the pie on a baking tray and bake for 30 minutes, then turn the oven down to 180C for a further 25 minutes. Serve hot.
This is a great comfort food, perfect for when it’s cold outside. I made this for some friends who were coming for lunch, one of our friends is a vegetarian so had to come up with a meat-free dish, my husband was not impressed with the thought of no meat! However he was really impressed with this pie, it’s really tasty and filling. I’ve made it a few times now and the family really enjoy it, and it makes a nice change from the usual meat and two veg choices in our house.