It's pie season, baby
Creamy mustard butternut squash and celeriac pie with cheddar and chive mash, and the best lemon polenta cake
I’ve been feeling a little glum about the end of summer. The last few days of August had me thinking about the end of all the sunny evenings spent in the garden with an Aperol Spritz, and despite the prospect of good telly and getting my favourite jumpers out from under my bed, I couldn’t quite look forward to Autumn yet. However, the promise of pie really sorted me out.
Pies are great. They’re great when you’re eating them from Pieminister at a festival, they’re great at a pub in the middle of nowhere, and they’re especially great when they’re making your kitchen smell like autumnal roasted-root-veg heaven. This one is no exception. You can use dairy-free alternatives to make it vegan, and it makes a great work lunch the next day if you’ve got leftovers. If you can’t find celeriac, just use another squash, or another root vegetable -perhaps parsnip for premature Christmas vibes?
Creamy mustard butternut squash and celeriac pie
Serves 4
1 butternut squash
1 celeriac
2 tbsp olive oil
35g butter
35g plain flour
350ml whole milk
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 bay leaves
500g Maris Piper potatoes
100g cheddar
10g chives
180-200g curly kale
1/2 a lemon
Preheat your oven to 180C. Peel and chop the butternut squash and celeriac into 2cm pieces. Tip onto a baking tray, then drizzle over the oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 45 minutes, tossing halfway through.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a pan, then add the flour and cook out for a couple of minutes, stirring all the while. Gradually pour in the milk, using a whisk to stir the mixture, ensuring there are no lumps. Once all the milk has been added, simmer for a couple of minutes before stirring in the mustard, adding the bay leaves and seasoning with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Then, peel and chop the potatoes into 3-4cm chunks. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, then add the potatoes and boil for 15-20 mins until the potatoes are tender. Drain into a colander, then let the potatoes steam-dry for a few minutes. Tip the potatoes back into the empty pan, then mash until smooth. Grate in the cheddar, then finely chop your chives and add to the potatoes with a generous pinch of salt and pepper.
When the butternut squash and celeriac has finished roasting, remove the bat leaves from the creamy sauce and tip the roasted veg into the pan. Stir to coat, then tip the mixture into a pie dish. Top with dollops of the mashed potato, then bake for 20-25 minutes until the sauce is starting to bubble up and the potato is starting to brown.
While the pie is baking, make some lemon-dressed kale for the side. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, then tip in 180-200g curly kale. Boil for 7 minutes, then drain and return to the pan. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, then season with salt and pepper. Serve alongside the pie.
This week, I have struggled with patience. Whether it’s waiting for a cake to be completely cooled before I prise it out of the tin, or eating a large amount of crisps in an effort to suppress hunger before a perfectly nice meal that’s only ten minutes away from being ready anyway. I’m not going to say I won’t do those things again, because I will, and there’s a sort of joy in it too. Not everything has to go perfectly, and sometimes you’re just too excited to eat whatever you’ve made that you burn your tongue (big metaphor alert).
Things to eat/watch/read
I made a seriously good lemon polenta cake at the weekend - of course, it was a Nigella recipe.
As I mentioned, I watched When Harry Met Sally while eating this pie, and I still this it’s the perfect autumn film. Maybe next time I should celebrate the changing of the seasons with apple pie a la mode, with the ice cream on the side.
Bubala in Soho is absolutely where I’ll be taking all my vegetarian-adjacent friends from now on - sweet/hot/salty glazed halloumi? Yum. baba ganoush with curry leaves and pine nuts? Yum. the best falafel I’ve had in London? Yum.