2 hrs plus cooling
Showing Off
serves 10
About the recipe
Nothing says summer like a beautiful picnic, and if you want to make it really special, give my perfectly portable picnic pie a try – simple ingredients made into something spectacular!
Ingredients
PASTRY
500g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
250g cold unsalted butter
1 free-range egg
FILLING
4 onions
50g unsalted butter
red wine vinegar
1.2kg potatoes
200g Gruyère or Cheddar cheese
1 large courgette (300g)
2 tablespoons English mustard powder
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
PICKLE
240g radishes
2 sticks celery
Method
- Put the flour, a good pinch of sea salt and the white pepper into a food processor, cube and add the butter, then pulse until just combined. Pour in 100ml of cold water, and pulse again until it forms a rough dough. Cover and chill in the fridge while you make the filling.
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Peel and finely slice the onions, then place in a large frying pan on a medium heat with the butter and cook for 40 minutes, or until soft and sticky, stirring occasionally. Loosen slightly with 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, then leave to cool.
- Peel and cut the potatoes into 2cm-chunks, then cook in a pan of boiling salted water for 10 minutes, or until just tender. Cut the courgette into 2cm-chunks and add to the pan for the last 2 minutes, then drain in a colander and steam dry for 1 minute. Meanwhile, coarsely grate the cheese.
- Give the colander a shake to chuff up the edges of the potatoes and courgettes, then toss with the mustard powder, turmeric and a pinch each of salt and black pepper.
- Halve the pastry and roll each half into a circle, just under 1cm-thick and slightly larger than a deep 23cm pie dish. Roll one of the circles around the rolling pin and carefully unroll it over the pie dish, gently pressing to line the dish – don’t worry if the pastry breaks, just patch it up.
- Spoon in the cooled onions, followed by half the potato mixture. Scatter over half the cheese, followed by the remaining potato mix. Top with the remaining cheese, then carefully add the pastry lid.
- Flour your thumb and forefinger, then gently pinch and crimp the edges together to seal, and cut a small hole in the centre of the pie lid.
- Brush with beaten egg, then bake for 1 hour, or until beautifully golden, then leave to rest for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, finely slice the radishes, then halve and use a vegetable peeler to peel the celery into fine strips. Season with a pinch of salt and scrunch with 4 tablespoons of red wine vinegar to quickly pickle.
- Cut the pie into wedges, then serve each slice with a pinch of pickle.
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