Mushroom and Chestnut Pie
Hi guys, we have been busy in the avofeast kitchen this week, lots of new recipes tried and tested for you. They will be showing up on here in the coming weeks so keep your eyes peeled. The next few will be suitable for valentines, galentine’s, and who’s kidding any time of year really. This pie recipe makes the perfect main for a romantic meal or a great dish for a galantines dinner party. You can also double up the mixture and freeze half, lift out the night before and leave in the fridge to defrost, wrap up in some pastry and you’ve got a nice quick meal for a work night. We made it in a heart for obvious reasons but you can go for a circle, 4 individual rectangles, think a Greggs slice shape, or if you’re feeling lazy get a pre rolled sheet of puff pastry and fold in half, no rolling or cutting necessary.
This filling isn’t the fastest to whip together, but taking your time cooking the veg slowly will make all the difference. Try not to rush the onions as we don't want them browned or caramelised, just cooked till soft and translucent, keep this low and slow. Then you add the star of the show, the mushrooms, we’ve used 150g chestnut and 250g of a woodland mix but whatever you can get your hand on as long as the overall weight is kept the same. The parsley and thyme are a perfect match for the mushrooms and it was a no brainer to sneak a little wine in there too, and don't worry you can finish off the rest of the bottle with the meal, we don't like waste after all.
The chestnuts add a great sweet and nutty flavour to complement the earthiness of the mushrooms which is then perfectly finished off with the creme fraiche to make a moreish creamy filling that is almost good enough to eat out the bowl.
We hope you enjoy sharing this gorgeous pie with people you love or take a note out of my book and keep it all to yourself, a nice valentines treat for me, myself, and I.
Ingredients
1 large onion, diced
knob butter
400g mushrooms, sliced and diced
small bunch fresh parsley, chopped
small bunch fresh thyme, chopped
80ml white wine (around 5 tbsp)
1 stock cube, crumbled
180g cooked chestnuts (we use 1 pouch of the Merchant chestnuts)
1 tsp cornflour
80g creme fraiche
500g pack of puff pastry at room temperature
1 egg, beaten
Method
Pre heat the oven to 220°C / 200°C fan
Cook the onion over a low heat until soft and translucent, stirring often and season well
Add the mushrooms and butter and cook for around 10 minutes until all the juices have run out
Add the herbs, wine, stock cube and chestnuts and cook for another 10 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated
Mix the cornflour with 2 tsp water then stir through the mushrooms along with the creme fraiche. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes, season to taste then leave to cool
Split the pastry in half and roll out until around 0.5 cm thick. Cut each piece into a heart shape making one slightly bigger than the other, this will the top. Put these back in the fridge to chill while the filling cools
Once cool put the filling on the smaller heart piece with a 2 cm boarder around the edge, bruh the border with some beaten egg
Place the larger heart on top and crimp the edges together with a fork, brush the top with the rest pf the egg and poke a hole in the top with the fork
Bake for 40 minutes, if the top is becoming too brown cover with foil for the remaining time