Three Mushroom Pasty

This recipe came about because one of my clients wanted to come on my pie making course but she was allergic to meat.

I devised this recipe for her and it is incredibly meaty for a meat-free pie as well as being delicious.  You can also try putting the filling into an oven proof dish and top with mashed potato for a warming supper dish, or use as a canape filling for vol-au-vents.

Makes 2

Pastry

225g plain flour

110g butter

1 large egg

Ground black pepper

  1. Place the flour and butter into the bowl of a food processor and blitz to combine.  Add the egg and blitz again until the pastry just forms a ball.  Remove from the food processor, shape into a flat disk, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 20 – 30min.

Filling

75g Chestnut mushrooms – sliced

75g oyster mushrooms – sliced

15g dried porchini or shitake mushrooms

1 red onion – chopped

1 clove garlic – chopped

drizzle of rapeseed oil

50ml Marsala or dry sherry

1/2 tsp vegetable bouillon powder

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

1 desert spoon rice flour

salt and pepper to taste

  1. Soak the dried mushrooms in enough boiling water to just cover.  Allow to sit for 30min.  Reserve the soaking liquid.  Chop the mushrooms if they are whole.
  2. Heat a heavy based pan over a medium heat and sweat the onion and garlic with a drizzle of oil.  Once the onions are soft, add the chopped fresh mushrooms, turn the heat up a bit and cook until the juices have run out of the mushrooms and has evaporated.
  3. Add the Marsala or sherry to the pot and bubble to reduce to almost nothing, add the vegetable bouillon powder and strain in the mushroom soaking water.  Bubble the sauce until it is slightly less than the level of the mushrooms in the pan.  Remove from the heat, add the nutmeg and season to taste.  Stir in the rice flour, allow to cool, then chill in the fridge.
  4. Pre heat the oven to 200C/Gas4.
  5. Divide the pastry into 2 pieces, roll out to about the thickness of a £1 coin.  Cut each into a circle approx 19cm in diameter.
  6. Place half the mushroom mixture in the middle of each pastry circle.  Brush egg wash around the edges, fold over and crimp the edges.  Glaze the pastry with more egg wash, place on a baking sheet and bake for 25 – 30 min.