Cheesy Lattice Pie

If you follow the blog you'll know that I have this addiction to pies and cheese, potato and onion versions in particular, which is probably why this caught my eye.

Here's the recipe, verbatim, from The Vegetarian Society :

For the lattice top

500g vegetarian ready rolled or block

puff pastry

For the filling

500g leeks, finely sliced and washed

1 tbsp olive oil

25g vegetarian margarine

1 tsp paprika

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 tsp plain flour

200ml milk

100g vegetarian cheese, grated

400g vegetarian cream cheese

400g chicken style Quorn pieces

50g sun-dried tomato, diced

1 tsp fresh thyme or parsley, finely chopped

50g frozen peas

For the glaze

1 egg beaten

Method

Pre-heat oven to 160fan/180c/Gas 4.

To make the filling, gently melt the margarine with the oil in a frying pan and fry the leeks for 5 minutes then add the paprika and garlic. Sprinkle on the flour whilst stirring to create your sauce.

Add the milk a little at a time whilst stirring. Add the grated cheese, cream cheese, Quorn, sun dried tomatoes, herbs and peas. Cook for 5 minutes. Adjust the seasoning as required. Place your filling into a pie dish, 25cm x 25cm. Allow to cool.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the pastry until it is 40cm x 40cm or large enough to cover your pie dish with at least 10cm spare around the edge. Cut your pastry into strips 3cm across. Thread the pastry on your pie dish to make a lattice effect keeping the joins nice and tight. Seal the edges of the pie by pressing down on the pastry with a fork. Brush the top of the pie with your glaze and bake for 45 minutes in the pre-heated oven.

Each to their own as they say – anything with cheese and I loved the idea of a lattice pastry top … hmm