This week has been both busy and great fun with a few birthday celebrations which involved all my favourite things – spending time with friends & family, a bit of culture – Hockney art exhibition at Tate Britain, live music and of course cooking & eating! This week has been #nationalpieweek in UK so I decided to make my mushroom meat-free pie. I  had a great chat with Jason, former chef, hotelier and owner of @Beer_Asylum, Pinner my local craft beer shop.  We discussed pie making and he picked  Brehon Irish Oatmeal Stout (@brehonblonde) to use in cooking & to pair with the pie. Alternatively you can use another mild stout or some dry white wine or leave it out entirely – but it adds another layer of flavour & really enhances the mushrooms.

Ingredients (serves 2)

Ingredients

•  280g (10 oz) baby chestnut mushrooms, cleaned, slice the end of stalk & remove
• large handful of dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in 250 ml ( 8.5 fl oz)  boiling water in a heatproof jug
• small red onion, thinly sliced
• 3 baby leeks or 1 medium leek, washed & sliced
• 1 celery stick, washed & finely chopped
• 1 large garlic clove, chopped
• 30g (1 oz) Taleggio cheese roughly chopped (you can use brie, camembert, or cheddar as an alternative)
• 4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme, washed & leaves removed
  

  Onion, garlic & herbs cooking

• 1 fresh bayleaf (or dried)
• 1 sprig of fresh rosemary, washed
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil ( I use rapeseed)
• 15g ( 0.5 oz) butter ( I use unsalted)
• 1 teaspoon plain flour
• freshly ground sea salt & black pepper
• 3-4 tablespoons Brehons Irish Oatmeal Stout ( or equivalent)
• All butter puff pastry  sheet ( bought & ready rolled)
• 1 medium egg , beaten

Method 

Preparing porcini & chestnut mushrooms

• Heat the oven to 180 C fan (356 F)
• Sauté the onion, thyme, rosemary & bayleaf in 1 tablespoon of oil on a gentle heat for 5 minutes in a frying pan until soft without colouring
• Add the chopped garlic, stir and cook  for 2 minutes
• Add the leeks and celery and cook for another 4-5 minutes until cooked
• Remove from pan with a slotted spoon into a bowl
  

  All the veggies added

• Remove the porcini mushrooms, squeeze out and roughly chop, retaining the soaking liquid
• Add the butter & 1/2 tablespoon of oil and turn the heat up to medium
• Sauté the chestnut mushrooms for 3-4 minutes to get a little colour
• Add the porcini mushrooms and cook for 1 minute stirring
• Season with sea salt & black pepper to taste
• Add the rest of the veggies back and add the porcini liquid, taking care to leave the grit from the soaking liquid in the jug

• Reduce the liquid down by half then add the flour and stir in to combine and thicken the sauce
• Add the stout right at the end and bubble for 2-3  minutes to reduce and cook off some of the alcohol. For an alcohol free version just use more porcini liquid, or vegetable stock
• Take off the heat to cool slightly while you prepare the pastry lid
  

  Tallegio cheese added on top

• On a floured surface cut a rectangle allowing  an extra 2 .5 cm/ 1 inch larger than the pie dish, use the up turned pie dish as a guide.
• Oil the pie dish, add the filling, removing the rosemary and bayleaf
• Add the chopped cheese
  

  Pastry lid added

• Add the pastry lid, carefully, crimping the edges, trim any excess pastry over the edge
• Cut a small cross in the centre to allow the steam to escape & brush with beaten egg

Egg wash added ready to bake

• Bake in the centre of the oven for about 20 minutes until the pastry is golden & crisp

I serve my pie with some wilted spinach, but kale, cauliflower, cabbage or broccoli would work too.

My mighty mushroom pie – no need for meat with such a tasty combo.

Definitely meat-free magic!