Soft goat’s cheese would also work well instead of the feta, and you could swap the pistachios for any nut you fancy.
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Yields:
8 serving(s)
Prep Time:
50 mins
Cook Time:
1 hr 20 mins
Total Time:
2 hrs 10 mins
Cal/Serv:
671
Ingredients
FOR THE FILLING
25g
butter
450g
chestnut mushrooms
2
thyme sprigs, leaves picked
1tsp.
dried chilli flakes
550g
butternut squash from the neck end, peeled
1Tbsp.
Dijon mustard
125g
cranberry sauce
200g
feta, crumbled, see intro
100g
pistachio kernels, roughly chopped, see intro
180g
cooked chestnuts, roughly chopped
FOR THE PASTRY
Vegetable or olive oil, to grease
675g
plain flour, plus extra to dust
185g
unsalted butter, chopped
1
medium egg, beaten
Directions
Step 1For the filling, melt the butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat and cook the mushrooms until golden and any moisture in the pan has evaporated. Stir in the thyme, chilli flakes and plenty of seasoning, and cook for 2min, until fragrant. Set aside to cool completely.
Step 2Meanwhile, slice the squash into 1cm-thick rounds and cook in a pan of salted boiling water for 5min, until just tender. Drain and leave to cool.
Step 3For the pastry, grease a 20.5cm round springform tin with oil. In a food processor, pulse the flour and 1tsp fine salt until combined. Next, in a small pan melt the butter and 225ml cold water. Increase heat and bring to the boil. With the processor motor running, add the hot liquid and whizz until the pastry just comes together. Tip on to a work surface, bring together with your hands and knead until smooth.
Step 4Split pastry into ⅔ and ⅓, wrap the smaller portion and set aside at room temperature. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the larger portion of pastry to a large circle and use to line the greased tin, leaving some pastry hanging over the sides. Chill for 10min.
Step 5Preheat oven to 190°C (170°C fan) mark 5. Brush the inside of the chilled pastry case with the mustard. Arrange ⅓ of the cooled squash slices over the base, then top with ⅓ of the mushrooms and dot over ⅓ of the cranberry sauce. Sprinkle over ⅓ each of remaining filling ingredients. Repeat layering twice more.
Step 6Brush the rim of the pastry with a little beaten egg. Re-flour the work surface, if needed, and roll out remaining pastry until large enough to cover the pie. Lay on top of the tin, then trim any excess pastry. Crimp edges to seal, making sure the crimping sits inside the tin (or the pie will be hard to remove). Re-roll any trimmings and stamp out some festive shapes, if you like (we used star cutters). Stick to the pastry lid with a little beaten egg.
Step 7Brush the pastry lid and decorations with more beaten egg, put pie on a baking tray and cook in the oven for 30min (reserve remaining beaten egg). Carefully unclip and remove the outside ring of the tin. Brush the pastry sides with more beaten egg and return to the oven (still on tin base on the tray) for 35min, or until deep golden. Leave to cool on the tray for 10min before transferring to a board or cake stand and serving.
GET AHEAD Prepare to end of step 6 up to a day ahead. Loosely cover pie and chill. Cover and chill remaining beaten egg. Complete recipe to serve.
GH TIP This pie is also delicious served at room temperature, as part of a buffet. Once cooked, cool completely, then wrap well and chill. Bring to room temperature before serving.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).