Cheese crust vegetable pie

Ingredients

175g plain flour

pinch salt

100g butter/Trex

75g cheddar cheese, grated

3 tbsp water

50g butter

approx 650g mixed vegetables, peeled/chopped

A sachet/packet of Knorr soup mix (it’s a powder that you mix with water)

milk/egg to glaze

Directions

1. First, make the pastry by rubbing the fat into the flour and salt. Once this is incorporated add the cheese and mix together. Add the water and mix to a smooth dough. Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 30 mins.
2. Gently melt the butter and then sweat the vegetables in order of firmest first. I used an onion, then carrot, runner beans, and broccoli. I also used a small tin of sweetcorn which I added at the very end.
3. In a jug, mix together the soup powder and 1 pint of boiling water. Stir with a fork until the powder is fully dissolved.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 200C
5. Put your veg into your pie dish, and then pour in the soup. Stir to mix everything together.
6. Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll out. Top your pie dish and trim any excess pastry (you can always bake any excess pastry to make savoury biscuit things!).
7. Brush the top of the pie with milk or egg to glaze it, and then bake for 15 mins at 200C. Reduce the temp to 180C and cook for a further 20 mins. If the pastry is browning too quickly you can cover it with tinfoil.
8. Serve immediately; we ate ours with boiled potatoes.
9. Any leftovers can easily be reheated at 180C, making sure the pastry is covered loosely with tinfoil.

This recipe tastes even better made with vegetables from Community Harvest Whetstone :)