Roasted harlequin squash and courgette pie

So the squash season is well under way, and of course I've already been purchasing some and planning new recipes with them. I really love this season and can't wait to cook more with these fine ingredients. I'm very excited to share more autumnal recipes with you. I think I'll need to visit a large farmers' market soon to get many different kind of squashes.

The cute harlequin squashes have also appeared to the shops, so I made this cheesy pie with roasted harlequin squash and courgette, which was very well received by my eaters. Courgettes are summer squashes after all, and this one was produced in my own garden, which is always lovely. The harlequin squash and courgette tasted really good together, especially with the herb savory in the pie.

You can make either one large pie or several smaller pies with these ingredient amounts. Of course there's more fiddling with the pastry involved, if you choose to make small ones. I was lazy this time and bought a ready made and even readily rolled out pastry.

Ingredients

1 harlequin squash

1 courgette

200 g potatoes

2 shallots

3 garlic cloves

Olive oil for roasting and frying

Handful of fresh savory

Ground black pepper to taste

Salt to taste

500 g shortcrust pastry

250 g extra mature cheddar

1 egg

Method

Cut small cubes (about 1,5cm x 1,5cm) from the squash, courgette and potatoes. Place the vegetable cubes into a roasting tin and brush them with olive oil. I put each vegetable type into their own tins, because the roasting length can vary for the different vegetables. Turn the veg occasionally during the roasting and roast them at 200 C for roughly 25 minutes until they are soft with roasting marks.

Coarsely chop the shallots and finely the garlic and cook them in olive oil until soft. Add the roasted vegetables to the pan and season the pie filling with fresh savory, ground black pepper and salt.

Roll out shortcrust pastry thinly and place it into a pie dish. Cut off the excess pastry on the sides and cut a lid of suitable size. I made again some nice hedgehog and mushroom decorations for the top from excess pastry.

Fill the shortcrust pastry with the filling and cheese. Put a layer of the filling and then cheese onto the pastry, and repeat until the pie dish is full. Then close the lid and brush the pastry with a beaten egg and make a couple of breathing holes into the lid.

Bake the pie at 180C for about 30 minutes until the pastry is baked crispy and golden brown. A larger pie might need a longer baking time.

I hope you'll enjoy the squash season as much as I do! There will be many recipes to follow.

Your VegHog