Butternut Squash and Goats Cheese Pie

This is a fabulous recipe for a party or a special meal. It's vegetarian and still packs a punch with flavour... so much so that it's demolished quickly by vegetarians and meat eaters alike when I make it.

One large 8" pie (it's DEEP) will easily serve 8 > 10 people. If you really enjoy this like I do - you can also make it in small individual pies. (see further down)

This recipe originated from Delicious magazine - but the quantities they stated simply did not fit the tin and I had masses of extra. That's how my individual pies were born ! The recipe below has been adaptedd to perfectly fit an 8" dia deep cake tin.

Recipe

Pastry :

350g plain flour

50g coarse polenta

150g cold butter

60g parmesan (grated)

1 egg, beaten

Put pastry ingredients in a food processor and blitz to crumbs. Add a little water until it starts to form a dough. Remove from food processor and knead to form a ball. Wrap in cling film and rest in fridge for 30 mins or so. Remove 1/3 and set aside for pastry lid. Line tin with remaining pastry

Filling :

1 large butternut squash - about 1.2kg
4 tsp La Kama spice blend from Seasoned Pioneers

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

4 garlic cloves (whole)

large bag young spinach leaves

200g goats cheese log (rindless)

3 large red onions (thinly sliced)

tub riacotta
100g pine nuts

Peel and deseed squash. Slice squash and lay on baking trays. Don't forget to use silicone tray liners if you have them - makes washing up easy ! Drizzle with olive oil and then sprinkle over the spice blend and chilli flakes. Season well with salt and pepper.

 Pop the garlic cloves (whole) onto one of the trays. Bake in the oven at about 180deg C for 25 mins until golden

Wilt the spinach and squeeze out all excess water. Finely chop and mix this with the riacotta.

Carmelise the red onions in a pan with some olive oil and mash in the roasted garlic

Once all components are ready - layer the pie case with riacotta / spinach mix, squash, red onions, goats cheese (crumbled) and pine nuts. I started with a butternut squash layer - but you could start with whatever layer you fancy. Repeat until case if full.

Seal case with remaining pastry made into a lid. Decorate with pastry leaves or other design and leave a little hole for steam. Brush with beaten egg

Bake at 180deg C fan for approx 40 mins

We do an extra deep muffin mould which is ideal for single pies. The sides are almost vertical.I use it for pork pies and individual small pies. I then wrap the pies in the mould with foil and freeze. You can then either thaw them all and cook together at a later date... or like me - cut it into 3 lots of 2 cells which lets me cook just two at a time !

This 6 cell extra deep silicone muffin mould has been out of stock for some time now - but is due to arrive back in the next few days - this time in a purple colour. You will find it on our website at http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ later this month

Sarah-Jane Nash, Siliconemolds.com - silicone bakeware - May 2010