- Serves 2 - Ready in 1 hour and 30 minutes -
Gather together…
250g rough puff pastry (made from; 75g chilled butter in cubes, 150g plain flour, pinch of salt, and 5 – 6 tbsp very cold water) OR use 250g shop-bought puff pastry.
3 large potatoes (or 5 medium potatoes or 10 small potatoes), peeled and cut into golf-ball-sized chunks.
3 medium leeks, sliced into rounds and washed - I always include the long green leaves in any leek recipes, meaning less waste.
1 tbsp (yes, a tablespoon) of wholegrain mustard.
2 cups (loosely packed) of grated cheese.
1 tsp butter (to grease the baking dish).
2 tbsp milk for sealing the pie and brushing the pie top.
Serve with...
Microwaved frozen peas.
300ml gravy, made from gravy granules - follow pack instructions to bubble gently in a saucepan on the hob, 5 minutes before serving-up time) N.B. Bisto Gravy Powder is packaged only in card/paper.
Get making the Rough Puff Pastry (or just use shop-bought puff pastry)…
1. In a medium mixing bowl, coat the 75g of chopped, cold butter cubes in the 150g of plain flour and the pinch of salt.
2. Add the 5 – 6 tbsp (tablespoons) of very cold water and use your hands to squash the flour and butter cubes roughly together into a lumpy clump of a ball. No need to rub in the butter.
3. On a clean and well-floured worksurface, shape the lump into a rectangle and use a rolling pin to roll it out (moving the rolling pin in ONE DIRECTION only) away from you, until you have a rectangle 1 cm thick.
4. Use plenty of flour on the worksurface and rolling pin.
5. Fold the pastry rectangle from the short end furthest from you – fold 1/3 of the dough towards you, then the nearest 1/3 away from you (so it folds over the first 1/3 you folded) – like folding a business letter. So you now have a rectangle made of 3 equal sized layers.
6. Give the pastry rectangle a ¼ turn clockwise, then repeat the ONE DIRECTION rolling and the 1/3 over 1/3 folding.
7. Give another ¼ turn clockwise.
8. Do the rolling, folding into thirds, and turning process 4 or 5 more times, on a well-floured board.
9. Wrap the pastry in a beeswax wrap (or a plastic bag which you can wash and re-use) and chill in the fridge for at least 30 min before rolling out.
Get cooking the Pie...
1. Boil a full kettle (and then boil a second kettle of water too).
2. Set a big pan of kettle-hot water to boil on the hob. You need a BIG pan as you'll be combining the entire pie filling in the pan after boiling the potatoes.
3. Peel and cut the 3 large potatoes into golf-ball-sized chunks and boil them for 25 minutes until tender enough for mashing (or put them in the pressure cooker for a shorter time, with 2cm of cold water).
4. Meanwhile prepare the 3 medium leeks - wash and chop them into rounds and set aside. At this point you could grate the two handfuls of cheese and set the cheese aside too.
5. Towards the end of the potato-boiling time, microwave the leeks for 5 minutes, covered with a vented lid, in 2cm of water. (Or, if you have a steamer pan then steam the leeks over the potatoes for 15 - 20 minutes).
6. Once tender, drain (SAVE THE POTATO WATER FOR MAKING GRAVY!) and mash the potatoes (there is no need to add anything to the mash as you will be adding lots of cheese to the pie filling shortly).
7. Preheat the oven to 200 C (180 C fan) or Gas 6, make sure the oven shelf is towards the bottom of the oven, so the pie crust doesn't burn.
8. Drain the leeks in a colander for a few seconds and then add the leeks to the potato mash.
9. Add the 1 tbsp of wholegrain mustard and the 2 cups of grated cheese. Stir really well.
10. Look at the quantity of pie filling you have in front of you, choose a pie dish / baking dish that will hold the filling. I used a rectangular ceramic dish c.20cm x12cm in size, you can use a circular dish if you have one.
11. Use 1 tsp of butter to grease the pie dish base and sides.
12. Spoon the pie filling into the pie dish and pack down well. It is best to assemble the pie whilst the leek and potato filling mixture is fresh and hot, but once the pie lid has been put on on, the assembled pie will happily sit at (cool-ish) room temperature for a couple of hours before the pie is baked in the oven.
13. Wet the edges of the pie dish with milk (so the pastry lid sticks to it).
14. On a well-floured (and clean) worksurface, roll out the 250g of homemade rough puff pastry /shop-bought puff pastry, so it is slightly larger than the pie dish top.
15. Use the rolling pin to help you carefully lift and drape the pastry over the pie filling. Press down around the edge of the dish with your finger and thumb to seal the pie.
16. Use a knife to trim off any excess pastry. You could brush the small amount of leftover pastry with wholegrain mustard and grate cheese on and roll it up, to bake as a cheese straw (it will take about half as long to bake as the pie does).
17. Use a knife to cut a star shape of slits into the centre of the pie top, to allow steam to escape.
18. Brush the top of the pie with a little milk (so it browns in the oven).
19. Put the pie in the lower half of the oven for 45 minutes, until nicely golden brown on top and you can see the filling bubbling through the star-shaped cuts on the top.
20. Serve the pie hot, with peas and gravy.
Adapted from this Pete Thomas (aka The Lazy Cook) recipe on YouTube - https://youtu.be/ruZEDYE5TFE