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The subject doesn’t come up that often, but when it does, the question I get asked most when I tell someone I don’t eat meat is “… but what do you eat at Christmas?” Christmas, it seems, just isn’t Christmas without turkey. (And I can’t believe I’ve written that word so many times in an October blog post).
What we do eat in place of turkey is Christmas pie – filled with layers of rich tomato sauce and creamy, garlicky cannellini beans. And, before you ask, there is a reason for fast forwarding us through to the end of the year. It’s because I’ve been looking for pie inspiration. An unusual thing to be searching for maybe, but it was prompted by an invitation from the people at Higgidy to join the Higgidy Recipe Hunt. It’s a chance to help design the next Higgidy Special Guest Pie – all suggestions are welcomed, you too can join the hunt.
So armed with a brand spanking new apron and a very smart rolling pin, I set out in search of a perfect pie recipe. Taking our Christmas pie as a starting point, I came up with a variation on the theme. This one takes a little less preparation (although the slow roasted tomatoes need a little forward planning…) Best of all, it can be adapted to use seasonal herbs – making it an all year round pie. Add the fresh young leaves of chives to the onions in spring, flavour the tomatoes with basil for summer, and for the autumn and winter I’m using thyme and sage.
The pastry is another adaptation – a savoury version of the pastry I use for an Italian-style jam tart. It worked well to make small pies. Small pies, because individual servings allowed me to adjust the filling for picky eaters. One pie had to be a Wensleydale-free zone… it seems Wensleydale cheese is fine to crumble into tomato soup, but completely unacceptable in a tomato pie. Someday I’ll work out the logic behind these food preferences, until then I just do my best to keep up.
Herb & Tomato Pie
(makes four 9cm pies)
For the filling –
4 tomatoes, sliced into rounds about 5mm thick
1 tsp caster sugar
½ tsp fine sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
leaves from 3 sprigs of thyme
2 onions, chopped
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp pomegranate syrup
4 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
40g Wensleydale cheese, crumbled
For the pastry –
175g plain flour
75g ground almonds
pinch of salt
1 egg
120g unsalted butter, melted
Heat the oven to 110oC, 225F, gas 1/4. Grease four individual 9cm diameter pie dishes.
Lay the tomato slices in an ovenproof dish. Mix together the sugar, salt and a good grinding of black pepper, and sprinkle this over the tomatoes along with the thyme leaves. Bake the tomatoes in the pre-heated oven for about 2 hours – until the tomatoes are tender and almost dry.
Meantime, cook the onions in the oil and pomegranate syrup over a medium heat until they are translucent, but not browned. Remove from the heat, season and stir in the sage leaves.
Allow the cooked tomatoes and onions to cool before assembling the pies.
To make the pastry, mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the beaten egg and melted butter and stir to form a soft dough. It will seem quite wet compared to usual pastry, but don’t worry. Wrap the pastry in cling wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Heat the oven to 180oC, 350F, gas 4.
Roll out the pastry and line the prepared pie dishes. From the remaining pastry, cut four circles to top the pies.
Spoon some of the sage and onion mix into the bottom of each pie, sprinkle with some crumbled Wensleydale, then top with tomato slices and another sprinkling of cheese. Use the pastry circles to cover the pies and poke a couple of holes into the top of each with a sharp knife, before baking them for 20-25 minutes.
So, that’s my herb and tomato pie… if you have a favourite pie filling that you think would make a great guest pie over at Higgidy, why not hop over to their website and join the hunt? It doesn’t have to be a full recipe – ideas for flavour combinations can be entered too. Just don’t leave it too long before you enter, the Higgidy Recipe Hunt closes on 26th October.
Many thanks to all at Higgidy for asking me to get involved in their recipe hunt, and for providing me with a parcel of goodies to help set me on the way to finding that perfect pie.
apuginthekitchen said:
Lovely pie, I love the tomato and cheese filling.
thegardendeli said:
Thank you! Tomato and pretty much any cheese is a good combination!
Julie's garden blog said:
Yum! You gave made me very hungry 🙂 I adore pies .. Must give this a go.
thegardendeli said:
Aren’t pies good, and the best thing is, you can vary the filling to fit the season… or to fit the current glut from the veg patch!
Charlie@Seattle Trekker said:
It looks really amazing, I am going to try this during the weekend.
thegardendeli said:
Sorry for the late response… hope the pie worked out well for you.
Agents of Field said:
That recipe looks delicious, must give it a go!
thegardendeli said:
Thank you… hope you like it if you do try it!
circusgardener said:
Hi Sarah,
Your pie recipe sounds lovely. I like the fact that it has light, clean flavours, a contrast to that “traditional” but often dull Christmas stalwart, nut roast.
Steve
thegardendeli said:
Thanks Steve. In the past, we’ve done the Christmas nut roast… then progressed to Delia Smith’s cheese and parsnip roulade (which is very good, but doesn’t pass the taste test for my picky daughter), to end up with our own take on Christmas dinner.
CJ said:
They look and sound delicious, although I have one non-Wensleydale eater here as well. There’s never a Christmas turkey here either, so I’m always on the lookout for lovely vegetarian alternatives.
thegardendeli said:
Boursin would work well in place of the Wensleydale… but please don’t tell anyone or I’ll be kicked out of Yorkshire!
annjenny said:
Your pie sounds delicious.
thegardendeli said:
Thank you!
Cathy said:
They look delicious – the pastry looks so light and crumbly. Yum! Love the rolling pin too Sarah!
thegardendeli said:
The pastry is ‘rustic’ rather than light and crumbly… the rolling pin, on the other hand, is brilliant!
elaine said:
I’m a big fan of Wensleydale – and although I am not a vegetarian I could quite easily get my choppers round that pie.
thegardendeli said:
Thanks Elaine! I may be biased, having lived in Yorkshire for the last 25 years, but Wensleydale has to be one of the best cheeses around.
Southbourne Gardens said:
I find myself eating less and less meat. They look delicious!
thegardendeli said:
Thank you!
thegardendeli said:
Less meat seems to be the way to go – better for health and for the planet if the reports are to be believed.
e / dig in hobart said:
i am already thinking of what to have for the christmas centrepiece – i have volunteered christmas lunch at my place – and what to have when you don’t have meat is tricky. but these pies look just right! i’m hoping we will have our own home-grown tomatoes by then, but that may be optomistic. thank you for a great idea!
e / dig in hobart said:
oh and PS i am envious of your varigated sage!
thegardendeli said:
It’s the only sage I’ve been able to get through the winter here – I’ve tried plain green, purple and that pretty green, purple and white one, but nothing survives apart from the green and gold sage.
thegardendeli said:
Home grown tomatoes for Christmas… I’m feeling the need for another Christmas in the southern hemisphere!
Caro said:
Without my son around to cook big meat filled suppers for, I’m enjoying a far more veg based menu (but with fish and chicken occasionally). These little pies look scrumptious and I imagine you could vary the cheese to suit. Could I use something instead of pomegranate syrup? It’s not one of my cupboard staples. PS. I love Higgidy pies and love your rolling pin *kitchen envy*!
thegardendeli said:
The rolling pin is fab… and far too nice to use, just in case it gets dirty! Vary the cheese as much as you want – we have to vary, or exclude, cheese on a regular basis to suit my daughter, who is super-fussy when it comes to food.
Karen said:
I’ll be saving this recipe for next summer when I have an abundance of fresh tomatoes from the garden. I like the small pies!
thegardendeli said:
Ah, next summer… definitely something to look forward too!