CELERIAC, CAVOLO NERO, ROASTED GARLIC + THYME PIE
MAKES 6 INDIVIDUAL PIES
New seasons Celeriac, as just come available at the markets. This pie replaces the heartiest of meat pies, the flavour of roasted celeriac with confit garlic, cavolo nero, mustard and cream works so well, a little bit like a celeriac remoulade but in a pie.
Pies can be made so many different ways, shape or form the only thing that matters and the key to the success of a good pie is a well seasoned delicious filling and a good pastry - I assure you the options are endless.
INGREDIENTS
3 medium celeriac
Olive oil
Small bunch of cavolo nero
40g butter
3 Tbsp flour
3 tbsp thyme, fresh & chopped
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
20 heads garlic confit (recipe on my website)
2 tbsp grain mustard
¼ cup cream
Salt and Pepper
500g to 800g good quality puff pastry (I use Paneton for best results)
METHOD
Prepare celeriac, in 3 basic steps. Use a sharp knife to remove the base and top from the celeriac, then using a peeler start to peel the flesh, use a sharp knife to get into any gnarly bits, now chop into 1cm cubes.
Place celeriac into a roasting tin, coat in olive oil and salt and pepper and roast on fan bake 220c for 20 to 30 mins, until slightly coloured and caramelised.
Prepare cavolo nero, strip the leafy part from the stem, and blanch in salted boiling water for 3 minutes, drain and run under cold water. Squeeze any access moisture out and roughly chop.
Now make the sauce: Add the butter to a saucepan and melt over a medium heat, add the flour and mix to a paste and cook for 2 minutes, then add thyme and cook for a further minute, now whisk in the stock, whisking continually until thickened, then add the cream, garlic confit, mustard, salt and pepper and simmer for 5mins to make a thick sauce.
Now make the filling: First add the chopped cavolo nero, when adding this I try to ensure its evenly distributed throughout the sauce, now fold in the cooked celeriac. Check the seasoning and chill for 2 hours.
Make your pie, I have said 500g to 800g of pastry to make a pie, it all depends on what shape or form you want your pie to be, basically it comes down to whatever shape or form works best for you and what you are use to, whether it be individual pies which will use more pastry, or big round deep dish pies or slab pies which will use less.
Whatever pie shape you want, grease and line the dish, line the base with pastry, brush the outer edges with egg wash, then spoon in the filling. Brush the lip of the exposed pastry with egg wash, the place the pastry lid on top and squash the edges together to seal. Trim off any excess pastry and use your thumb or a fork to make a pattern around the edges. Brush the pie with more eggs wash and chill for 30min.
Bake at 200c fan bake until golden about 30mins
NOTES + VARIATIONS
Kale can be substituted for Cavolo Nero
Garlic confit can be substituted for roasted garlic or sautéed raw garlic, if using raw garlic I would use 5 gloves and sauté it finely sliced, when you start to make the sauce.
Flavour is everything, make sure you use fresh thyme and you season the pie filling well before you being assembling the pie.