Warm-water pastry is lovely to make. It’s usually made for pork pies, but it is magnificent in this dish. Put liberal amounts of white pepper into the mix to bring out the flavour of the mushrooms.
Ingredients
- About 50g butter
- 400g field mushrooms, sliced
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh sage
- 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
- Good pinch each of ground nutmeg and ground allspice
- 150g goat’s cheese, crumbled
- 1 tsp Tabasco sauce
For the pastry
- 225g plain flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 50ml milk
- 75g vegetarian suet
- 1 medium free-range egg yolk, beaten
Method
- 1. Melt the butter in a frying pan. Fry the mushrooms with the herbs and spices over a medium heat until soft. Drain in a colander.
- 2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. For the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Heat the milk, 50ml water and the suet in a pan until the suet has melted, then bring to the boil. Pour into the flour and mix with a wooden spoon to form a soft dough.
- 3. Knead the dough quickly until smooth, then divide into 8 even pieces. Reserve a quarter of each piece for the lids (keep these pieces covered with a tea towel, or they’ll dry out), then press the larger pieces into 8 holes of a muffin tin.
- 4. Add the cheese and Tabasco to the drained mushroom mixture and season well with salt and white pepper. Divide the mixture between the pie bases. Roll out the pastry lids and press on top of the pies. Brush with egg, then cut small steam holes in the lids. Bake for 45 minutes, until golden. Serve with pickled onions and cold beer.
Nutritional info
Per pie: 303kcals, 20g fat (11.4g saturated), 8.3g protein, 24.1g carbs, 1g sugar, 0.9g salt
Wine Recommendation
If you don’t fancy beer, try a tangy, fruity red like New Zealand Pinot Noir.