Make this fantastic Vegetarian Pie, with layers of tender roast pumpkin, wiltered spinach, charred capsicum, crumbled goat’s cheese, perfectly roasted eggplant, semi-dried tomatoes and zucchini ribbons all encased in homemade pastry and baked until golden. This layered vegetarian pie as a stunning centrepiece for a meat-free Christmas or dinner party.
Vegetarian Pie Recipe
Ingredients:
1kg butternut pumpkin, skin removed, deseeded
2 red capsicum, halved, seeds removed
1 eggplant, trimmed, thinly sliced lengthways
olive oil cooking spray
300g baby spinach
3 zucchini, trimmed
150g goat’s cheese, crumbled
250g semi-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 egg, whisked
Pastry
4½ cups plain flour
3 egg yolks
180g butter, diced
Method:
To make the pastry, sift flour and 1 tsp salt into a large bowl. Make a well in centre, add egg yolks and cover with some of the flour. Place butter and 1 cup water into a saucepan and place over a low heat until butter has melted and mixture comes to the boil. Pour boiling liquid onto flour and stir until a firm dough forms. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 3 minutes or until smooth. Stand dough for 10 minutes then knead for 3 minutes. Form dough into a round disc. Wrap in plastic film and refrigerate for 45 minutes or until firm.
Preheat oven to 200°C. Line 3 baking trays with baking paper. Place pumpkin onto 1 tray.Place capsicum on second tray and eggplant on third. Spray with oil. Bake pumpkin and capsicum for 40 minutes and eggplant for 25-30 minutes or until pumpkin is tender, capsicum is charred and eggplant is tender. Cool. Remove skin from capsicum and discard.
Place spinach into a heatproof bowl. Cover with boiling water and stand for 1 minute or until wilted. Drain and rinse under cold water. Squeeze as much liquid as possible from spinach. Spread onto a double layer of paper towel. Top with paper towel and press until dry.
Using a vegetable peeler, run blade down the length of zucchini forming ribbons. Place into a heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water and stand for 1 minute or until just tender. Drain and rinse under cold water. Place zucchini slices onto a double layer of paper towel, cover with more paper towel and press dry.
Grease and line base of a 20cm springform cake pan with baking paper. Roll pastry between 2 sheets of baking paper until 4mm thick. Line cake pan with pastry. Roughly trim, leaving a 4cm border of pastry around edge of cake pan. Reroll pastry scraps into a 4mm-thick round.
Place half the pumpkin slices over base of pastry. Top with spinach, capsicum, goat’s cheese, eggplant, semi-dried tomatoes, zucchini and remaining pumpkin, pressing down firmly. Brush edge of pastry with egg wash. Cover pie with rerolled pastry. Press edges together and trim. Using a metal icing nozzle cut a small round of pastry from centre of pie for steam to escape. With excess pastry cut a small fluted round and remove a small round with nozzle from centre. Place fluted round over the hole.
Brush surface of pie with egg wash. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper. Place pie onto a baking tray. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden. Stand for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Transfer to a serving platter and serve.
Smart Tip:
If pie begins to colour too much, cover loosely cover with foil.