Cheese and onion pie

 

How are you all getting on in this pre-Christmas time? I’ve been busy at work, so can’t wait for some quiet time at home and in the nature. That’s probably what it will have to be, as all places are closed. I’m quite looking forward to it though. First there are still three working days to go.

A cheese and onion pie is currently one of my candidates for the Christmas table. It would be a very filling thing, even if I made them on this smaller scale like here. I might make the pies on Boxing Day or on the between days rather than on Christmas Eve or Day. I served these pies with steamed sprouts, fondant potatoes and a side salad.

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog

 

Leek pie

 

We had some cosy times in town yesterday and today the floating Christmas tree will arrive to our harbour. Yes, you read it right, it’s a floating Christmas tree that will be sailed to us from another part of the harbour. It’s so Copenhagen and I’m sure it will be good. So we will of course go to see the spectacle. Luckily there is a lot of space around the harbour, so distancing will be easy. Otherwise we’ll just enjoy a quiet Sunday.

Only a week ago I posted a lentil shephard’s pie, but as this is the pie season, I think we can have another one. This one is also made in the style of a shepherd’s pie using crumbly leftover potato mash as a topping for a leek, onion and yellow lentil mix. I got the most beautiful biodynamic leeks and they were calling for a comforting winter dish.

What is your favourite pie of the season?

Your VegHog

 

Lentil shepherd’s pie

A warming shepherd’s pie dish so belongs to this season. I made this one following my basic recipe with two types of lentils, onions, carrots and spices to add savoury flavour and all of that covered with a nice potato mash. The pie turned out very good. Now that I’m working a lot from home again, it’s nice to make large dishes that stretch to next day’s lunch just to be warmed up quickly.

Your VegHog

 

Cheese, onion and potato pie

I have been into comfort food even more than usually lately. I don't know, it must be the chilly weather and darkness. And what could be more comforting in this season than a warm cheese, onion and potato pie in shortcrust pastry? I think that offers pretty much the ultimate comfort, at least for me.

I roasted the potatoes that went into the pie, and I also slow-cooked the onions first. Then I filled the pie with them and a lot of Cheddar. Off to the oven the whole thing went, and baked until the crust was crispy and golden brown. That's the recipe in all its shortness.

I got so full after eating a couple of slices of this pie, so it should be consumed carefully. It should be fine when shared with some good friends though.

Your VegHog

Savoury pumpkin pie

My inspiration for this dish was Anna Jones’s recipe for savoury gruyere and pumpkin pie from The Guardian. Initially I was planning to follow the recipe, but once I started making the dish, I changed quite a few things. On the day I couldn't find fresh sage in my local shops, so I thought that thyme would also be nice. I didn't use a pumpkin either, but a squash from my seasonal dining table decorations. First I wasn't fully sure, if this squash would be tasty, and started roasting it first to have a taste. And indeed, it was fine, so I decided to use that very squash. When I was well into the cooking, I wanted to add some potatoes, and plenty of cheese as well. Only I didn't have any gruyere, so it had to be Cheddar. This is it how it went on, and I'm not sure how much was left from Anna Jones' idea in the end, if anything.

The essence is that I wanted to make a savoury pie, because I enjoy them more than sweet ones, and I think that this was a very nice one. Maybe one day I'll have to follow Anna's recipe, though. Have a read in the article, if you're curious about her version. This recipe below is how I made the pie. I also skipped making own pastry this time, which made it a perfectly manageable weekday meal. I think that such a savoury pie could also be nice at the Christmas table.

Savoury pumpkin pie

Ingredients

1 small pumpkin or squash

3 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion

2 garlic cloves

25 g butter

2-3 small potatoes

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder

Handful of fresh thyme

1 tsp smoked salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

½ tsp cumin seeds

100 g grated Cheddar

250 g shortcrust pastry

Pumpkin seeds as decoration

Method

Peel the squash and cut it into small wedges. Brush the wedges with olive oil and roast in the oven.

Chop the onion and garlic finely, and start sautéeing the onion in the olive oil and butter mix until soft and browned.

Add the potatoes, peeled and sliced, followed by the vegetable stock powder and about one cup of water. Let simmer under lid until the potatoes are done and the liquid has mostly evaporated.

Add the seasoning, garlic and the squash and let simmer a while longer.

While the mixture is still hot, stir in the cheese and set to side to cool.

Spread the pastry on a pie dish and spread the filling in.

Bake at 180 C for about 30 minutes. Add the pumpkin seeds on the top towards the end, and return the pie to the oven for a few minutes more.

Let the pie set a little while before serving, and then enjoy!

Your VegHog

Cheese and onion pie

We've had a couple of chilly days here in Copenhagen this week. It hasn't been raining, so I'm quite happy with the dry yet chilly weather. The ground was frosty one morning, and that gave me a nice boost while walking to the train station at 7 am. I have about 15 minutes' walk to my train station with a lovely lake scenery and loads of sea birds, and that walk always wakes me up. Then a 30 minute train ride to work follows, which I spend by reading the news online and doing some Danish language exercises with an app. This all of course has nothing to do with the dish that I was going to share with you today, but sometimes it's nice to give little peeks to my everyday life.

Now to the warming dish. What would this season be without a hearty cheese and onion pie? Nothing, I tell you! I have made this classic again, and it's basically the same one as in this post, but of course it always varies a bit. This time I covered the pie with a crispy griddle of pastry, and it was very nice. I saw the pie recipe once in Simon Hopkinson's cooking programme on the BBC and have been making it ever since in a slight variation. You can find his recipe here.

I'm so glad that it's Friday tomorrow, as this week has been so busy. I have no plans either, so it will be nice just to relax. What are your weekend plans?

Your VegHog

Cheese, onion and potato pie

Today is another sunny day, and I'm sharing another potato recipe. Not that this dish has anything to do with the sunny day, quite the contrary... I can't wait to cook some lighter spring dishes, but in the meanwhile I have still been enjoying many lovely comforting cheese and potato dishes.

Cheese and onion pies are such classics, and I can't get enough of this combination. This pie is very easy and quick to make, as I used ready made pastry. You could even use left-over potato mash in this recipe, as not particularly many ingredients are needed for this pie. I decorated it with a couple of ponies, just for the sake of it.

Cheese, onion and potato pie

Ingredients

4 potatoes

2 onions

3 garlic cloves

2 spring onions

1 tbsp butter

1 tsp sea salt

½ tsp ground white pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

50 ml dry cider

100 g red leicester cheese

100 g cheddar cheese

300 g shortcrust pastry

Method

Cook the potatoes and mash them.

Chop the onions, garlic and spring onion finely, and cook them in butter until soft.

Season with salt, pepper and oregano and pour the cider in. Let simmer for a few minutes, and then mix with the potato mash and cheese.

Roll out the pastry and place it into a pie tin.

Bake in the oven at 200 C for about 30 minutes until nicely golden brown.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Cheese and onion pie

Maybe it’s already over for me with the healthy eating boost to the new year. I’m not sure, but lately in this chillier weather I have been craving for heavier dinners. It has been chilly and foggy over here, almost feeling like winter. January has been so long, but unfortunately not such a productive blogging month for me. I’m confident that it will get better towards the spring.

I suddenly remembered this favourite of mine, Simon Hopkinson’s mother’s cheese and onion pie, and simply had to make it. I have made this pie for several times. It's so full of cheese and onion goodness and it's a tough one to beat as a winter favourite. I pretty much followed the recipe that I have already shared on my blog here. I only added some dry cider to the onions this time, and it was a very tasty addition, I can only recommend it. I also made the pie in a slightly lower pie dish this time, and obviously the decorations were different. It's nice to spend a couple of extra minutes making cute surfaces for covered pies. This time I went with the hedgehog theme. This would also make a nice centrepiece when inviting friends over.

The original recipe is by Simon Hopkinson, My mother's cheese and onion pie. It's also in his vegetarian cookbook and was made by him in his BBC cooking programme. I can only recommend this recipe!

Your VegHog

Fondant potato, cheese and onion pies

I have been making fondant potatoes a few times lately. They are so tasty and comforting and also a bit naughty due to the rich butter ans vegetable stock mix where they cook. I think that they are quite perfect for autumnal dishes. I have made fondant potato pasties in the past and now I wanted to incorporate them into proper pies. I wanted to go with a good tried and tested combination of potato, onion and cheese with notes of thyme running through. These pies turned out really nice and I will surely make them again.

I had some seasonal vegetables on the side, steamed sweet sprouting cauliflower, which is very mild and pleasant new vegetable for me, and roasted acorn squash and purple carrots. I love the vegetables of this season!

Here is my recipe for 4 small pies:

Ingredients

3 onions

2 garlic cloves

Olive oil

6 potatoes

Fresh thyme sprigs

500 ml vegetable stock

25 g butter

1 garlic clove

400 g shortcrust pastry

150 g grated Cheddar

Sides: steamed sweet sprouting cauliflower, roasted purple carrots and acorn squash

Method

Chop the onions into half rings and cook them slowly and long until they are caramelised. Then add the finely chopped garlic to them.

Quarter the potatoes and place them into a frying pan. Put some thyme sprigs onto them and also add one quartered garlic clove and the butter. Then pour in the vegetable stock so that the potato tops aren't quite covered. Let simmer until the stock has evaporated and the potatoes are tender and browned. The potatoes can be turned over just before removing them from the pan.

Roll the shortcrust pastry out thinly and divide it into ramekins or small pie dishes. Cut the rest of the pastry into about 0.5 cm wide long strips.

Fill the pastry with grated cheese, onion mix and potatoes by layering them into the dishes in turns. Season with some additional fresh thyme.

Cover the pie with a pleated griddle of pastry.

Bake the pies at 180 C for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Pea pie

I'm enjoying fresh garden peas one more time as a side to this dish. Probably there will be a few more times still this late summer, but not sure if they'll make it to the blog. This time I made potato mash covered pies from dried pea and broad bean crushes, which are basically just dried pulses crushed with a food processor. In Finland you can buy both products in that texture, which is very handy for different veggie burgers and sauces. They were really nice in a veggie style Shepherd's Pies like these as well. I'm quite thrilled that the proper pie season is here soon, as then I can fully enjoy savoury pies all the time! Here I presented the pie with a bit lighter sides of fresh peas and lettuce to make it a more suitable late summer dish.

Ingredients

1 kg new potatoes

50 g margarine

1 cup dried pea crush

1 cup dried broad bean crush

2 carrots

2 onions

4 garlic cloves

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp vegetable stock extract

1 tbsp liquid smoke

Splash of dry cider

Sprinkle of salt

Sprinkle of ground black pepper

Method

Cook the potatoes and mash them with the added margarine, salt and some of the potato cooking water.

Cook the pea and broad bean crush as per the instructions on the packet.

Chop the carrots, onions and garlic finely and cook them in oil for a few minutes.

Add the cooked peas and beans into to the pan and season.

Place the pea mix into the bottom of one large oven dish or into several smaller ramekins and cover with the mash.

Bake at 180 C for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Leek and lentil pie

British Pie Week is observed this week and I thought that I would participate with a pie recipe. I made an ultra savoury leek and lentil pie with a twist. This pie doesn't contain just leek and lentils, there is also a hint of tarragon and cider running through, all covered by a savoury skin-on potato mash (the best kind!). The method of making this pie is very straight forward. I served the pie with veggie sausages and a carrot ribbon salad. It was a really filling and nice wintery dish, just in time before spring has fully come here.

This recipe is very easy to veganise by substituting the butter and leaving out the cheese from the mash. I just wanted to make the mash rich and savoury by adding some of that lovely Havarti. And here's my recipe.

Ingredients

Topping:

500 g ruby gem potatoes

2 tsp salt

25 g butter

30 g aged Havarti cheese

Filling:

1 onion

4 garlic cloves

4 leeks

25 g butter

100 ml dry cider

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Small bunch fresh tarragon

½ cup puy lentils

Sides:

Veggie sausages, Cumberlands by the Secret Sausages

Carrot ribbon salad made from one orange and one yellow carrot

Method

Cook the potatoes to make the mash topping. Save also some of the potato cooking water for the mash. Mash the potatoes with little cooking water, salt, butter and cheese.

Slice the leeks and chop the onion and garlic finely. Heat the butter in a saucepan and start cooking the onion and garlic in there. After a while add the leeks and cider and let simmer under the lid. Add the seasoning.

Cook the lentils separately and then add them to the leeks.

Place the leek and lentil mix into an oven dish and cover it with the mash.

Bake in the oven at 180 C for about 30-40 minutes until the potato topping is little crispy and golden brown.

Serve and enjoy!

I want to share this recipe with My Legume Love Affair hosted this month by Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen.

Your VegHog