After doing what the French do so well and taking a long holiday (well a long blog holiday). It’s the back to school/work or as the French call it the ‘rentrée‘ (transl. return) which means I’ve been doing some serious cookstorming, testing out recipes for new classes, dinners and culinary events.

After doing some pie research yesterday (thanks for the tweets) I decided to get down to some pie action.  A while ago I had read an uk food trend report that said pies are hot stuff with brands like Pieminster and Delisanté making stylish hip pies for Selfridges, Waitrose and other big retailers. Pies have always been a staple dish in the English diet and even more so in the American’s with songs,  films and places like this. The French are yet to catch on (they prefer their tartes) although I know one place in Paris which makes a mean fruit pie (I sometimes make some there too)

I hit the market in the morning. My favourite fruit & veg guy (he’s got great produce and is also cute) was back from holiday which I was super happy about. He had a lovely pumpkin which I just had to have a piece of, along with some super sweet tiny mirabelle plums which by the time I got home had all somehow disappeared. Way too easy to pop into your mouth!

After baking 4 different cakes for my birthday on Friday I definetly needed to balance things out with something savoury. So a sweet pumpkin pie (if you’ve got a good recipe, send it my way!) was not gonna happen. Plus I’m not a big fan of sweet pumpkin pie.

I like roasting pumpkin and eating hot with olive oil or cold tossed with some baby spinach, pine nuts and a tahini dressing or in a curry. So I decided to roast some potatoes and pumpkin with some curry spices and popping that into a pie. It reminded me a little of the curry puffs my mum used to make. MMMMMmmmmmmm yum!

Spiced Pumpkin Potato Pie

4 small pies

700g diced pumpkin
300g diced potatoes
4 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tbsp ground paprika
2 tbsp ground curry powder (I used a rendang spice mix which has ground lemongrass)
3 pinches of salt
Sesame seeds for garnish
1 egg for eggwash

Preheat the oven 180°c/350°f. Mix together the spices, salt and oil with the potatoes and pumpkin. Put into a roasting tray. Roast for 30-40minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Leave to cool slightly.

Shortcrust pastry

170g flour
100g butter (very cold, cut into cubes)
1 tsp salt
1 egg

For the shortcrust pastry:
1. Sablage
Mix flour and salt add cubed butters. Rub flour mixture and butter together to create a breadcrumb texture. Make sure to work quickly. Add egg. Mix slightly.

2. Frasage
Turn out mixture onto clean surface (preferably a cool marble surface). Using the palm of your hand. Push a small amount of the mixture about 20cm along the surface of the table. Do this with all the dough. Repeat once or twice until the mixture has come together.

Chill dough for 30mins. Preheat oven 180°c/350°f.

Roll out to knife edge thickness and line already greased and floured tins. Use a round cookie cutter to cut out the dough for the tins. Prick the base and then fill with potato and pumpkin. Eggwash the edge of the pastry and cut a second (smaller round) for the top. Make sure to make a small hole in the top for the steam. Eggwash the top and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top and bottom of pie is golden brown. Eat warm or cold.

Tags: autumn, bob's kitchen, pie, pumpkin, rich shortcrust pastry, trend, vegetarian

It’s the season of falling leaves and the markets in Paris are fall of lots of yummy seasonal produce. One of them being pumpkins. There are many different varieties and one of my favourites are “Potimarron”(transl. Pumpkin-chestnut). This particular type has a very nutty/chestnutty taste. I simply roast mine, chopped up, in the oven and eat with a little butter, salt and pepper. However if you fancy something more sophisticated or sweet you could try making a Pumpkin & Chestnut millefeuille.

Millefeuille means a thousand leaves in French which I thought was quite fitting with so many leaves falling at the moment. Traditional it’s made with puff pastry but I had filo pastry in the fridge which needed to be used. The chestnut comes in the form of a chestnut spread which is easier found in the supermarkets over here. It’s like a jam and often used as a filling for crêpes. My version is a little more rustic compared to the classic ones you find in the Parisian pâtisseries.

If you’re looking for some more pumpkin inspired recipes, take a long at the “In the bag” event on A slice of cherry pie’s blog.

Pumpkin & Chestnut Millefeuille

Makes 2 large portions.

Roasted potimarron purée:

750g potimarron or regular pumpkin
2 tbsp spoons
100ml single cream

For the rest:

1 small tin of chestnut spread
100g melted butter
20 rectangles of filo pastry (15cm x 10cm)

To make the roast potimarron purée: Chop the potimarron into cubes (with the skin removed). Place in a roasting tray with 2 tbsp of butter. Roast at 180°c for 30 minutes or until tender. Stir the pumpkin pieces half way through roasting. Leave it to cool slightly. Blitz in a mixer with the single cream until lump free and very smooth (think baby food consistancy).

Preheat the over to 170°c. Melt the butter. Grease a baking sheet with some of the melted butter. Place 2 sheets of filo pastry on tray and then brush some melted butter on top of the sheets, repeat. Spread a layer of potimarron purée on top of the sheets and then place two more sheets of filo pastry. Making sure to brush butter in between the sheets. Then spread a layer of chestnut jam. Repeat by alternating layers of filo pastry and pumpkin purée/chestnut jam. For the top brush some more butter. Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes until the top is golden and the pastry is crisp. Eat while warm. You may want to serve it with some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Tags: autumn, millefeuille, pumpkin, seasonal