Roll out the pastry to a rough circle. About 20-25cm or 9-10 inches in diameter is good. This is a rustic galette and is very forgiving. Put the circle of pastry onto a baking sheet on your chosen baking surface. A cast iron pan is ideal (that’s what I used), but a baking tray works just as well.
Score another circle with a knife inside the pastry base, 2-3 cms smaller. Carefully turn up the outer circle to make a rough side for the galette.
Chop the leeks into rounds. Put the olive oil and butter into a large frying pan. When the butter is melted, add the chopped garlic and leeks. Add the salt and simmer the mixture on a low heat for 10-15 minutes or until the leeks are soft. Add the the baby spinach leaves and stir through. Turn off the heat and cover the frying pan. Leave for 5 minutes until the spinach has wilted.
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.
Put the sour cream or creme fraiche into a bowl and stir to loosen. Add the eggs, and beat well to fully mix. Add the mustard and salt and pepper and mix.
Scatter the cheddar cheese over the pastry circle, and then scatter the leeks/garlic/spinach on top. Pour the sour cream/egg mixture very carefully over the filling inside the galette. If you have too much liquid, don’t use it all in case it spills.
Brush the pastry edge with egg wash.
Place the galette into the pre-heated oven, and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the custard is set and slightly puffy. The pastry should be golden brown, too.
Serve warm or at room temperature with a green salad. You could throw in a few baby spinach leaves and some fried leek rounds for decoration too!
Sweet or savoury, scrolls are one of my favourite yeast based products to make. These scrolls are packed with streaky beacon, cheddar cheese and chilli/tomato/barbecue sauce. A perfect snack or quick breakfast on the go.
Make a basic enriched dough and fill it with the above ingredients, and bake into luscious scrolls.
Ingredients
Dough
500g strong flour
7g yeast
250g milk
10g salt
2 free-range eggs
50g butter
Filling
150g streaky bacon
75g good cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons tomato chutney
1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
1 tablespoon barbecue sauce
Glaze
1 free-range egg, beaten
1 teaspoon sweet chilli sauce
Method
Put the strong flour into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook or into a large mixing bowl if kneading by hand. Add the instant yeast and salt, making sure the yeast and salt are on opposite sides of the bowl. Add the milk which you have warmed to tepid (microwaving is easy) and the beaten eggs. Mix by hand into a rough dough, even if you’re going to use the dough hook in the next stage.
Cover the bowl with a tea towel or my favourite, a plastic shower cap, and rest for 20 minutes. Then move the bowl to the mixer and knead with the dough hook until the mixture is smooth and starting to develop some elasticity, about 5 minutes. Add the butter in small pieces, then knead again for about 5 minutes, using the mixer until the butter is thoroughly incorporated, the dough is smooth and you can achieve the “windowpane” effect. That is, you can pull some of the dough off the dough hook, between two fingers, stretching it so that it’s translucent.
If you are kneading by hand, you will knead to work the dough really well, in both stages, to get it to the desired silky, elastic stage.
Cover the bowl again and leave in a warm place to prove for about an hour, until the dough is doubled in size. You ideally need a temperature of about 25 degrees C.
You can prepare the filling while the dough is proving. Put the bacon rashers in a cold frying pan and heat up on medium, cooking the bacon rashers slowly, until they are nicely crisp. Remove from the pan and cool to room temperature. Finely chop the bacon rashers.
Grate the cheese and put aside. Combine the chilli, tomato and barbecue sauces in a small bowl.
Once the dough is risen, take the dough out of the bowl onto the bench top or ideally a large wooden board. Flour the bench top or board liberally with flour. Flour a rolling pin and roll the dough into a large rectangle, as large as you can go, with the dough ending up about 1/2 cm thick. My dough rectangle is usually about 30cm in width by 40-50cm in length.
Liberally spread the sauce mixture over the dough rectangle. Scatter the chopped bacon and grated cheese on top of the sauce.
Now carefully roll up the dough along the long side. Using a sharp knife, slice the dough into 18 pieces. These are mini scrolls – if you wanted bigger ones, slice into 12 pieces.
Line a large baking tin or tray with baking paper. Carefully place each slice, cut side up, into the tin or tray, fitting them snugly together.
Place the tin or tray into a large plastic bag. Put the tin or tray into the fridge, and leave for 8-12 hours overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 180 degrees C fan forced, or 200 degrees C non fan forced.
Remove the plastic bag from the tin/tray. With a pastry brush, glaze the scrolls with the egg chilli mixture. Place into the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the scrolls are risen and and nice and brown.
A great winter warmer. Layers of pumpkin, leek and optional bacon with a mixture of cheeses, encased in filo pastry.
Bake, traybake or pie this is delicious for lunch or supper.
And if you’re pumpkin averse, butternut squash works just as well!
Ingredients
2 tablespoons oil
500g pumpkin or butternut squash
5 rashers of streaky bacon
3 large leeks
1 clove of garlic
100g goat’s cheese
100g feta
2 large tablespoons Greek yoghurt
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
10 filo sheets
Butter for brushing the filo sheets + extra for greasing the baking dish
Method
Heat a medium sized frying pan on the stove top over a medium heat. If using, fry the bacon rashers. Once cooked, set aside.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Chop the pumpkin into small chunks, skin on. Lay the pumpkin pieces onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Pour one tablespoon of the oil over the pumpkin pieces. Bake for 20-30 minutes until the pumpkin is soft. Set aside until ready to assemble the pie.
Wash the leeks and cut into small lengths, about 2 cms. Finely chop the garlic. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan – if you cooked the bacon, you can use the same frying pan and the bacon juices. Gently cook the leeks and garlic over a low heat until the leeks are softened. This should take about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Put the goat’s cheese and feta into a bowl with the Greek yoghurt and salt and ground black pepper. Mix to incorporate the cheeses and yoghurt.
Have 10 sheets of filo pastry ready for layering in a medium sized square or rectangular baking dish. Cover the sheets with a damp tea towel to prevent them from drying out.
Melt a couple of tablespoons of butter. Using the melted butter, lightly grease the baking dish. Lay one sheet of filo in the dish, and brush with melted butter. Lay a second sheet of filo cross wise in the dish, across the first sheet. Brush with melted butter. Continue layering with the remaining three sheets, putting each sheet on top of the last, crossing the sheets over each other, brushing each sheet with melted butter.
Now it’s time to layer the filling. You will need to remove the skin from the now cooled baked pumpkin. Put a layer of pumpkin into the dish. Then layer some of the leek mixture. Top with some of the cheese mixture. Repeat the layers again, ending with the cheese. If using, place the bacon rashers on top of the filling.
Layer the remaining 5 sheets of filo over the top of the pie, crossing the sheets over each other as in the base of the pie, and brushing with melted butter in between the layers. Once the layers are done, you can tuck the overhanging filo into the sides of the pie. Or you could trim the overhang, but tucking in the filo gives a rustic edge to the pie, as you can see from the photos.
Brush the top with melted butter and place into the 180 degrees C oven for 20 minutes until the pie is golden brown on top and crispy.
Serve with green salad and crusty bread for lunch or as a simple supper. It freezes well too!
I haven’t put up any posts on sourdough bread recently, which is surprising as I make a loaf one a week or so. Possibly because bread making is so much a part of my routine and I am making pretty similar loaves each week.
However recently I have been experimenting with nut and fruit sourdough – bread that’s somewhere between a savoury and a sweet loaf. I think my last couple of loaves have hit the nail on the head – full of earthy flavours of walnuts and the sweet/sour taste of dried sour cherries. I like to include a small amount another fruit too – either raisins or golden raisins, to add a little more sweetness.
The recipe is my go-to sourdough process with modifications to allow for the addition of the walnuts and dried fruit.
Ingredients
425g strong flour
150g sourdough starter
300g water
10g salt
75g walnuts
75g sour cherries
50g raisins or golden raisins
Method
Mix Measure the flour, sourdough starter and water into a large bowl. Don’t add salt just yet. Roughly mix to a shaggy dough with a wooden spoon or dough whisk.
Autolyse Cover with a plastic shower cap or plastic bag or tea towel and leave for 30 minutes so the mixture can autolyse.
Knead and Prove Add the salt to the mixture. Using an electric mixer like a Kitchenaid, and the dough hook, knead on low speed for about 10 minutes or until the dough windowpanes when stretched.
Remove the dough from the bowl of the mixer and fold in the walnuts and fruit. I usually do this mixing in the nuts and fruit in 3 or 4 handfuls. Stretch the dough over the ingredients each time you add a handful. Don’t stress about having the fruit and nuts completely evenly distributed.
Cover the dough again and leave somewhere warm to prove for about 4 hours. After this first prove the dough should have noticeably increased in size, but not doubled.
Pre-shape Carefully remove the dough from the bowl with help of a dough scraper onto an unfloured work surface. Definitely no flour needed! I use an oversized wooden board, but a bench top will work too. Sprinkle a very little water on the surface. The dough will be a bit delicate, so no rough treatment. Slide the scraper underneath the dough, lifting it from underneath. You will feel the scraper catch the dough as it lifts it up. I try not to remove the scraper, just move it round all of the dough in a circle. Sometimes the scraper sticks, and you need to pull it out, remove the sticky dough, and then go under again, but the more you move around the dough, the tighter the dough becomes and the less likely to stick. Do this circular movement with the scraper a few times until the dough forms a round, wobbly ball that roughly holds its shape. Leave for 20-30 minutes to let the gluten relax.
Shape It can be tricky to shape a loaf so full of fruit and nuts, so shape carefully and don’t be too aggressive with the dough. You are shaping the dough into a boule or round loaf.
Lightly flour your surface and your hands. Flip the pre-shaped dough over onto the floured surface.
Imagine the round of dough is a clock face. Take one edge of the dough at 12 o’clock and gently pull towards you, and fold into the centre of the dough. Move the dough around to 3 o’clock and pull and fold again. Move to 6 o’clock, then 9 o’clock, pulling and folding. Do this process a couple of times until the dough feels tight and a little bouncy. Scoop the dough into curved hands and rock the dough backwards and forwards on the floured surface several times until the dough feels tight and smooth.
Carefully move the dough into a round proving basket, sprinkled with flour, with the smooth side of the dough on the bottom and the seam side on top.
Second Prove While you can prove your dough for 2-3 hours at room temperature, I advocate the retarded or fridge prove, and this method serves me well. Leave the dough at room temperature for an hour then place in the fridge for 8-12 hours. Proving in the fridge at night allows you to bake your bread first thing the next morning.
Score and Bake This bread is baked in a round cast iron pot. Sprinkle a handful of semolina inside the cast iron pot. Pre-heat your oven to really hot – 240 degrees C. Put the pot in the oven when you turn it on and leave for 30 minutes.
Once the oven is hot, turn your dough out of the proving basket onto a thin flat baking tray or peel, dusted with semolina. The nice side of the dough is now on top. Open the oven and carefully take off the lid of the pre-heated pot. You can then slide the shaped dough into the hot pot.
Now score the dough using a lame or razor blade or sharp knife. Scoring with a cross is good, or you can score with 2 parallel slashes, giving the bread more of an oval shape.
Put the lid back on the pot and close the oven door. Turn the oven down to 220 degrees C. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for a further 25-30 minutes with the lid off. The loaf should be a nice burnished brown, but if it looks too dark after 25 minutes take it out.
Remove the bread to a wire rack or board and leave to cool for an hour before cutting.
Serve with a lot of good butter. This bread doesn’t need jam but it’s up to you! It would also be good with a nice cheddar, or perhaps cream cheese or Brie or Camembert.
Here’s something I posted last year when we were in lockdown in Sydney…and here we are back in lockdown again!
But the weather is lovely with clear sunny days (well, mostly!) and spring is in the air. Which is the perfect reason to do some outdoor eating and home made burgers are the way to go.
Make the burger patties and then get creative with some fillings and garnishes – I’ve given some suggestions.
Eat, enjoy and beat the lockdown blues!
For the burger:
Ingredients
500g minced beef, preferably organic
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 free-range egg
1 handful of fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 heaped teaspoon of Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 slices of cheddar cheese
The other 1/2 onion, cut into rings
For the bits and pieces that go with the burgers:
4 soft bread rolls
Handful of baby gherkins
Cherry tomatoes
Sun dried tomatoes
Any green leaves you fancy – rocket is always good
Avocado slices
2 teaspoons American mustard
2 teaspoons tomato ketchup or 2 teaspoons tomato chutney
Method
Preheat the oven to 210 degrees C fan-forced.
Scrunch all the ingredients together. Use the breadcrumbs as required to bind the mixture. Divide into 4, then lightly mould and pack each burger together into burger shapes. Place the burgers on a baking tray along with the onion rings. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. The burgers should still be pink in the middle – cook for a few minutes longer if you want them more well done.
Just before they are done, place a slice of cheese on top of each burger and place back in the oven for a minute to just melt the cheese.
To serve:
Cut rolls in half and place on a plate. Place a burger with its slice of melted cheese on top of half of a bread roll. Squeeze some mustard and tomato ketchup on top, or spoon some tomato chutney onto the bread roll before you add the burger. Now add any of the bits and pieces as you fancy, using my suggestions or making up your own. I definitely recommend scattering the charred onion rings on top of the burger, really tasty!
I did a couple of different combinations on different nights.
A really delicious and easy meal and equally as good as take away!
To make dough, mix all the wet ingredients together. Stir in the flour and bicarb with a wooden spoon until you have a sticky dough. Put the dough onto a floured board and knead by hand for a few minutes until the dough is smooth. Divide the dough into 4 balls.
You can use the dough now or put in a bowl and cover with cling wrap and leave for an hour.
You could even stick in the fridge for a few hours.
To make the filling, chop all the greens, herbs, spring onions and garlic finely. Sprinkle over the salt and pepper.
Chop whatever cheeses you are using into small pieces.
When ready to make your cheat’s gozleme, take a ball and roll out into circles as thin as you can.
Spread equal amounts of cheese onto half of each circle. Then cover the half circles with all the green ingredients.
Fold the dough over the filling to make a semi circle kind of pastie shape, pinching edges together.
Heat the oil in a frying pan on a medium heat. Cook each cheat’s gozleme for about 3 minutes on each side or until brown and speckled. Pressing down the gozleme once you’ve turned them over helps to amalgamate and cook the filling inside.
Remove from the pan and serve hot with lemon wedges.
Making your own pasta is so satisfying! Here is a recipe for a couple of different kinds of ravioli. You can use my fillings or create some of your own.
Whether you use a pasta machine to roll your pasta, or roll by hand, it doesn’t take too much effort to create a lovely lunch or simple supper!
The basic recipe for the pasta is based on a Jamie Oliver recipe. It’s pretty easy to do and the pasta dough is rich and silky. The quantity makes enough for 12 ravioli.
Ingredients
3 large free-range eggs
300g Tipo 00 flour
Method
Put the flour into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs into the bowl. Break up the eggs with a fork in the well.
Gradually incorporate the eggs into the flour, mixing with your fingertips. Mix until you have combined all the eggs into the flour and you have a rough dough.
To make the Taleggio and Walnut Ravioli, I mixed in a small handful of fresh thyme leaves to half of the dough quantity before the kneading stage.
Now knead both kinds of rough dough until each comes together into a smooth ball, and continue kneading until the dough has been really worked well, and is smooth, soft and silky.
Wrap the doughs in cling wrap. Leave in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes to 1 hour, in order to make it easier to roll and shape.
For each kind of ravioli, use the pasta machine to roll the dough so you have 2 thin sheets. It’s important to roll the pasta sheets so they are very thin; I didn’t quite get the sheets thin enough so the pasta was a little thick.
If unsure about how to roll the dough using a pasta machine, there are plenty of “how-to” videos on YouTube.
You can also roll your dough by hand using a rolling pin. Jamie Oliver’s advice is to roll small pieces of dough, one at a time. Try to get them as thin as you can.
Thyme, Taleggio and Walnuts Ravioli
Combine 100 gms or so of taleggio cheese (any soft rind cheese will do) and a dozen or so walnuts chopped.
Ravioli with Pecorino and Sundried Tomato
Combine 100 gms or so of pecorino cheese (parmesan will work too) and a small handful of chopped sundried tomatoes.
For each kind of ravioli, place 6 small spoonfuls of each mixture on one pasta sheet, allowing for a border when you come to cut the ravioli. Moisten the exposed pasta and put the other pasta sheet on top. Press down to divide the sheets into 6 and, making sure you don’t trap any air with the filling, seal the ravioli edges.
Cut pasta into shapes using a pastry cutter or a sharp knife. I dusted the ravioli with a little flour to help them keep their shape as I wasn’t cooking them for an hour or so.
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and put the ravioli in. Cook for 5 minutes until al dente.
For a quick sauce, heat a little butter in a frying pan until the butter foams; pour over both kinds of ravioli and serve with additional shaved pecorino.
It’s almost spring in Sydney and the warm weather is here. A sure sign is the jasmine in bloom – sprawling over fences and permeating the air with its heady fragrance.
I thought it was time to revisit a recipe for lasagne I made a while back. It’s made with goat’s cheese, leek and tomato, no meat, so it’s a lighter option, perfect for the spring here, and for the end of summer for those in the Northern Hemisphere.
It’s pretty simple. With no white sauce, it’s easy to make. The goat’s cheese is a perfect substitute. You could change it up with the addition of different veggies – spinach, zucchini, eggplant or pumpkin would be good.
Ingredients
2 tbls extra virgin olive oil 2 garlic cloves 1 400g tin whole tomatoes 1 tsp sugar 1 big leek or 2 smaller ones 250g goat’s cheese 1 tbls milk 150g Greek yoghurt Fresh lasagne sheets – enough to make 3 layers Parmesan to grate over the lasagne Cherry tomatoes, sage leaves Fresh basil leaves
Method
For the tomato sauce, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a medium frying pan. Peel and finely slice the garlic and fry gently until softened. Add the tinned tomatoes and using the tin as a measure, add a tinful of water. Add a good grind of rock salt and black pepper and the teaspoon of sugar. Cook on a medium heat until the sauce is thick and reduced, about 20 minutes, breaking up the tomatoes with a spoon occasionally as you stir the sauce.
Wash the leek/s carefully to remove any dirt or grit. Finely chop the leeks. Put another frying pan on medium heat – or you can save washing up like me and use the tomato pan after they have finished cooking! Add the other tablespoon of oil, and when the oil is hot, add the chopped leeks. Stir for a minute or two, moving the leeks around to make sure they are all starting to cook down. Turn the heat to low, cover the pan and cook for about 10 minutes until the leeks are softened.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Break the goat’s cheese up, you still wants sine chunks so no need to blend or process. Add the milk to loosen the mix, and then add the Greek yoghurt. You are looking for a thick bit spreadable consistency. Season with a grind or two of rock salt and black pepper.
Now for the layering. Spoon 1/3 of the tomato sauce on the bottom of your baking dish. Add 1/3 of the leeks.Now put a layer of lasagne sheets on top. The size of your baking dish will determine how many sheets or partial sheets you need. I used one and a half per layer. Spoon ¼ of the goat’s cheese mixture over the lasagne sheets. Now start again and layer 1/3 tomato, 1/3 leeks, lasagne sheets and ¼ goat’s cheese. Finish with the rest of the tomato, the leeks and a lasagne layer. Spread the remaining ½ goat’s cheese mixture thickly over the top of the lasagne. Grate as much Parmesan as you fancy over the top, and scatter some cherry tomorrow halves and sage leaves.
Place in the bottom of the preheated oven and cook for about 25 minutes until the top is golden and bubbling. Remove from the oven and scatter over a few fresh basil leaves before serving.
NB You could freeze the lasagne before baking, or after cooking, freeze whole or divided into meal size portions.
I’m making lots of pies this winter, as well as sampling the pies of a couple of of really good bakeries. My local Bourke Street Bakery makes some beautiful beef pies, packed full of beef and encased in excellent pastry. Very yummy if you’re in a hurry and can’t rustle up your own.
I posted this pot pie recipe last year. It’s such a simple one to make as the filling takes no time. I made it recently, this time making ham and leek pasties instead of pies.
So here is the recipe from last year.
”I had some chunky ham pieces and a leek in the fridge so decided that they would be the basis for some simple pies. I also had a lovely washed rind cheese, soft and melting, that I thought would go beautifully with the ham and leek. I’m a huge fan of nuts, so it was a no-brainer that I decided to put some walnuts in the pies as well. They added a lovely crunch and texture to the pies All these ingredients were stirred into a white sauce, piled into the bowls, topped with puffpastry and baked in the oven.
I recommend using a good bought butter puff pastry for the recipe.
The recipe makes two substantial deep bowl pies. You could double the quantities for a larger pie in a conventional pie dish.”
Ingredients
1 large leek
A knob of butter to cook the leek
Salt
200g ham chunks
50g any soft washed rind cheese
A small handful of walnuts or to taste
White sauce
25g butter
25g plain flour
600ml milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 sheets of butter puff pastry or about 180g from a block of puff pastry
1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 teaspoon milk, for glazing
Method
Cut the leek into small slices. Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the leek with a good pinch or two of salt. Cook on a low temperature until the leek slices are soft, about 10-15 minutes.
Chop the ham into bite sized pieces and roughly slice the cheese. Chop any whole walnuts into smaller pieces.
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.
For the white sauce, melt the butter in a medium, heavy bottomed saucepan. Add the flour and stir for 1-2 minutes, to make sure the raw flour taste is cooked out.
It’s important to do this and the subsequent stirring in of the milk with a wooden spoon.
Gradually stir in about a third of the milk, making sure the milk is incorporated and there are no floury lumps. When the sauce has noticeably thickened, add another third of the milk and repeat the process. Add the last third of the milk and cook until the sauce is nice and thick. Simmer gently for 5 minutes and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Stir the ham, leek, cheese and walnuts into the white sauce in the saucepan. Pile the mixture into the individual bowls.
Cut out circles of puff pastry that are larger than the diameter of the bowls and will be enough to completely cover the tops. Brush the tops of pies with the beaten egg.
Place in the preheated oven and cook for about 20 minutes until the top of the pies are golden brown and puffed up.
This is a tasty pie using filo pastry, pumpkin and leek, and mixture of goats cheese and feta. You can add an optional layer of bacon rashers too, for an extra salty kick.
While the pie is simple to assemble using filo pastry, there a little bit of work to cook the pumpkin and leek. But worth the effort, as the pie is really very delicious!
Ingredients
2 tablespoons oil
500g pumpkin
5 rashers of streaky bacon
3 large leeks
1 clove of garlic
100g goat’s cheese
100g feta
2 large tablespoons Greek yoghurt
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
10 filo sheets
Butter for brushing the filo sheets + extra for greasing the baking dish
Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Chop the pumpkin into small chunks, skin on. Lay the pumpkin pieces onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Pour one tablespoon of the oil over the pumpkin pieces. Bake for 20-30 minutes until the pumpkin is soft. Set aside until ready to assemble the pie.
Heat a medium sized frying pan on the stove top over a medium heat. If using, fry the bacon rashers. Once cooked, set aside.
Wash the leeks and cut into small lengths, about 2 cms. Finely chop the garlic. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan – if you cooked the bacon, you can use the same frying pan and the bacon juices. Gently cook the leeks and garlic over a low heat until the leeks are softened. This should take about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Put the goat’s cheese and feta into a bowl with the Greek yoghurt and salt and ground black pepper. Mix to incorporate the cheeses and yoghurt.
Have 10 sheets of filo pastry ready for layering in a medium sized square or rectangular baking dish. Cover the sheets with a damp tea towel to prevent them from drying out.
Melt a couple of tablespoons of butter. Using the melted butter, lightly grease the baking dish. Lay one sheet of filo in the dish, and brush with melted butter. Lay a second sheet of filo cross wise in the dish, across the first sheet. Brush with melted butter. Continue layering with the remaining three sheets, putting each sheet on top of the last, crossing the sheets over each other, brushing each sheet with melted butter.
Now it’s time to layer the filling. You will need to remove the skin from the now cooled baked pumpkin. Put a layer of pumpkin into the dish. Then layer some of the leek mixture. Top with some of the cheese mixture. Repeat the layers again, ending with the cheese. If using, place the bacon rashers on top of the filling.
Layer the remaining 5 sheets of filo over the top of the pie, crossing the sheets over each other as in the base of the pie, and brushing with melted butter in between the layers. Once the layers are done, you can tuck the overhanging filo into the sides of the pie. Or you could trim the overhang, but tucking in the filo gives a rustic edge to the pie, as you can see from the photos.
Brush the top with melted butter and place into the 180 degrees C oven for 20 minutes until the pie is golden brown on top and crispy.
Serve with green salad and crusty bread for lunch or as a simple supper. It freezes well too!
The Quirk and the Cool 