We get together with some very lovely friends of ours every month or so to eat, drink and laugh. We became friends about the same time Will and I became a couple (so I guess about 8 years ago) and love them to pieces. There’s nothing better than our raucous night full of wine, food, conversation and Guitar Hero (apart from that time we drank the 1982 bottle of red that was older than me. That did not feel good the next day). But these sorts of soulmate friends are bigger than supremely corked wine: they’re for life.
These friends we have (hi, Rupert and Su!) are perfect in every way but one. They are both vegetarians*.
As we’ve been friends for so long I’ve stopped banging on about the whole “but don’t you miss bacon?!” thing, especially since they have started eating fish, and I now enjoy the challenge of meat-free cooking for them. I don’t like to use quorn or other equivalents so try and get my inspiration elsewhere.
Rupert and Su were supposed to come and visit this Friday but didn’t due to poor Elfie getting rushed into hospital (more on that soon) so I found myself with some left over vegetarian ingredients to cook with this week.
Therefore I give you my mushroom, pea and tarragon pie; good enough to eat even if you’re a carnivore and easy enough to add meat to if you can’t face a meatfree meal.
*This is a joke, I don’t have anything against vegetarians. Although, don’t you miss bacon?
- 1 large onion, sliced and chopped
- 100g quartered chestnut mushrooms
- 100g halved and sliced portobello mushrooms
- 100g peas, fresh or defrosted
- 80ml double cream
- a pack of ready made jus-rol puff pastry
- 1 beaten egg
- Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C
- Fry the onion in a little oil until soft, about 5-7 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms and cook for 5-10 minutes until browned and any liquid has evaporated.
- Add the peas, tarragon and cream. Bubble up for a couple of minutes and season with salt and pepper.
- Cut 2 puff pastry lids according to the size of the dishes you are using, or use 1 larger one (I do this by putting my dishes face down on the pastry and cutting one cm around). Seal the edges with a fork.
- If you're quick you can create some fancy pastry art on to put on top (I did an 'A' and 'W' for 'Alice' and 'Will'). I wasn't quick enough in the photographed example and my lids sunk a bit.
- Brush with egg and bake for 25-30 minutes, until puffed and golden
I’ll forgive you for making me feel *very* old- 1982 before you were born indeed- because these pies sound so yummy. Given that DH has an aversion to a) mushrooms and b) anything not containing meat, I shall have to make them when he is not around.Or you could just ship a few to me to keep in the freezer….
3 words… Nom. Nom. Nom.
They look good and I would eat them without meat too. I was vegetarian for ten years, then one Sunday morning, a piece of bacon got me!
They look amazing. I love how you have personal sized pie dishes.
Those look so good – but I agree, where’s the bacon?
Lovely looking pies… but vegetarians do not eat fish! Your friends should call themselves pescatarians.