Filo Vegetable Pie

This is my ultimate, favourite (originally vegetarian) meal. This is the only recipe I know  that everybody(I mean it) likes and even without meat it tastes delicious even for a big meat-eater.

Filo Vegetable Pie

Ingredients

270g filo pasty (shop bought)

150g butter

230g leaks, sliced to 1cm pieces

230g carrots, cubed/sliced

230g mushrooms, sliced

2 garlic cloves, chopped

150g cream cheese

120g Roquefort or Stilton or other blue cheese

150ml double cream

2eggs, beaten

250g cooking apples, peeled,cored and cubed

200g cashew nuts or pine nuts toasted

salt and pepper for seasoning

400g chicken breast (if you vegetarian just leave the chicken out and add a few slices of vegetables each to make up the space loss)

Preheat the oven to 180C. Heat 50g of the butter in a large pan and cook the carrots over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the leeks, mushroom and garlic and cook for another 2 minutes, then take off from the heat.

Cut the chicken breast into 2cm pieces and fry them on some butter in a hot pan for 2-3minutes. It doesn't have to be fully cooked, as it will be baked for 40minutes in the pie.

Whisk the cream cheese and blue cheese, cream and eggs in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over the vegetables. Add the apple, toasted nut and the chicken.

Melt the remaining butter. Brush the inside of a 23cm loose based spring form cake tin with melted butter. Brush two-thirds of the filo pastry sheets with butter, one at a time, and use them to line the base and sides of the tin, overlapping the layers so that there are no gaps. Basically you have to prepare a nest from the filo pastry sheets, thick enough to hold in all the lovely juices inside. 

Spoon in the vegetable-chicken mixture and fold the excess filo pastry over towards the centre of the pie to cover the filling. (See the picture-sorry I meant to take a picture from the empty "nest" itself, but it is quite hard to do everything at the same time and the guest were already at our place at this stage)

Brush the remaining filo sheets with butter and tear them into 2.5cm strips. Cover the surface of the pie with the strips, arranging them decoratively in a rough mound. 

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy all over. Allow to stand for 5 minutes to cool, then carefully remove the cake tin and transfer the pie to a serving plate.

Summer Fruit Filo Baskets

The thing is, these little baskets are quick and easy to make, definitely delicious and your guest will be stunned. I apologise for the quality of the photograph, but when I made them I wasn't intended to start a blog and publish them..

Filo pastry baskets filled with crème pâtissière and summer fruits

For the baskets

200g Filo Pastry- ready made from the shop

40g unsalted butter

muffin tin or ramekins

For the crème pâtissière

375ml full fat milk

38g cornflower

2vanilla pods

45g sugar

4egg yolks

45g sugar

38g butter

For the topping

200g strawberry

200g raspberry

50g dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Lightly oil the muffin tins or your ramekins. Depending on the size of your form, cut the filo pastry into 15-18cm squares(or just like me cut into 4equal rectangle your filo pastry sheet), place one square/rectangle on the work surface, then brush with a little of the melted butter. 

Lay on the second square/rectangle at an angle and repeat the process with the third sheet as well. I used 3 layers to make sure it is strong enough for the amount of creme patisserie I will use, but you can use 4 layers just to be on the safe side. 

Press the assembled filo pastry into the oiled forms, pressing into the base to make a flat bottom and keep the edges pointing up. Continue making the cups in this way, then bake in the preheated oven for 10-15minutes or until crisp and golden. Leave to cool before removing the filo cups from the forms.

I did 8 of these baskets and kept the rest of the pastry in the freezer.

For the creme patissiere: In a heavy saucepan over low heat bring the milk, cornflower, the seeds and pods of vanilla and 30g sugar to the boil while whisking.

Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks with 30g sugar in a bowl. Continue whisking and slowly pour in the hot milk. Transfer back to the pan and whisk until just to the boil, then remove from heat.

Immediately place the whole saucepan into a bowl of iced water and remove the vanilla pods. Wile it chills, cut the butter at room temperature into pieces. Once the sauce has cooled, add the  butter pieces and briskly whisk them into the sauce until it is smooth and glossy. 

For the chocolate decoration, melt the chocolate in a bowl over a shimmering water, then leave it slightly to cool. Spoon it into a piping bag or a plastic bag and cut the corner to create a small hole. squeeze the chocolate onto a baking sheet to form the decoration. Leave it to harden in the fridge on a flat surface.

Cut the strawberry into pieces.

To assemble: spoon the room temperature creme patisserie into the filo pastry baskets, then arrange the fruit on top. Put them into the fridge until serving and put the chocolate decoration on at the last minute.