Giveaway pie dish and Winter vegetable and bean pie for British Pie week.

This week its British Pie Week.The nation is celebrating by baking pies of all shapes and sizes. A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling.You can have sweet pies, savoury pies, open topped pies, filled pies in fact any type of pie as long as it has some form of pastry. The two most common pastries used in pies are Puff pastry or Savoury and Sweet short crust pastry although you can of course use filo pastry and choux pastry too in your pie making.To find out more details about pies you can read the information here.

Pies are very versatile, they can be made with a vast range of ingredients and are perfect as they can be served hot or cold. They are brilliant as travel food for picnics and outings and make a perfect one pot meal to serve on a cold winter's day. Pies can be made in different shapes and sizes. You can bake them in glass dishes, pudding basins, ceramic dishes or metal non stick pie dishes.

Mermaid make a really lovely range of all British collection of high quality cookware that offers a solution for every baking need from roasting dishes and trays through to cake tins and moulds. Mermaid is very popular and it is  loved by professional chefs and home cooks alike, they have been established since 1953. In their pie tins they are currently on offer 25cm (rectangular), 21cm (round) and 15cm companion size. I was offered  the rectangular 25ch pie dish to sample for pie week but unfortunately my parcel containing the pie dish did not arrive in time for me to bake my pie for British pie week so I have baked it in a glass dish, however I am looking forward to receiving it so that I can try out the pie dish for my next pie.This is my recipe for British Pie Week.

A delicious vegetable Pie made with melt in the mouth shortcrust pastry with a seasonal winter vegetable and bean filling.

Ingredients:

For Filling:

2 medium carrots peeled and diced
1 parsnip peeled and diced
2 medium potatoes peeled and diced
1 leek roughly chopped
1 medium onion finely diced
125 ml / 4 oz chopped plum tomatoes(tinned)
1 can of precooked mixed beans.
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
2 sheets of ready rolled short crust pastry( alternatively make Home made pastry )
2 oz bread crumbs
2 tablespoons olive oil
A little milk for brushing top of pie

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C / 350 Degrees F
2. Using one of the sheets of short crust pastry line a 25 cm rectangular pie dish.
3. Prick the bottom with a fork.
4. Sprinkle a thin layer of bread crumbs on the pastry (this will stop the bottom of the pastry going soggy from the juices from the filling)
5.In a large pan heat the oil and saute the onions and leeks until they soften and onions turn translucent.
6. Add the potatoes, parsnip,carrots and the tinned tomatoes and mix together.
7. Cook the mixture for 5 minutes.
8. Season the filling with salt and pepper and add the chilli flakes.
9.Drain the beans from the tin and add them to the vegetables and mix well.
9. Slightly cool the filling and then add it to the prepared pie dish.
10. Sprinkle the top of the filling with the remaining bread crumbs.
11. Cover the top of the pie with the second sheet of pastry.
12. Trim off any extra pastry over hanging the pie dish and crimp the edges to seal them.

13.Cut out flowers and leaves from the pastry off cuts .
14. Using a sharp knife cut three slits on the top of pastry so that any steam can escape whilst pie is cooking.
15. Decorate the pie with leaves and flowers as desired.
16.Brush the top of the pie with some milk to get a golden crust.
17. Bake the pie in the oven for about 50-60 minutes or until the pie is golden brown.
18. Remove pie from oven once its baked and serve hot .

You may like:
Mini Veg pies

Submitting to:
Flavours of United Kingdom event by simply.food guested hosted by saffron streaks



Exciting news!!!
To celebrate British Pie Week Mermaid have kindly offered a prize of one 25 cm rectangular pie dish to one simply.food visitor so that you too can enjoy the baking experience.

How To Enter:

Competition/Giveaway open to Residents in the UK only.
Simply complete the Rafflecopter widget below to verify your entries

·         Entries can be via blog comment, Facebook, Twitter etc

·         Please read the rules they form the terms and conditions of this Giveaway

·         Closing date – 31 st March 2013

How Rafflecopter works

• You will need to complete the mandatory entry first – usually making a blog comment. You can do this by clicking on leave a comment at the bottom of the post and leaving your reply in the comment box. Please note your comment will not show immediately as it needs to be moderated however rest assured it will appear on the site, so carry on with rest of entries.
• Login to Rafflecopter – click to see what the question is. Make a comment answering the question on the blog.
•  Go back to Rafflecopter and click the green button to tell me you have made a comment, this will unlock all the other options. All entries are checked to see that the mandatory question is answered, if its not all bonus entries will become void. 
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