Watercress, potato and ricotta homity pie (vegetarian)

Keri Astill-Frew

Keri Astill-Frew

26th February 2019
Keri Astill-Frew

Watercress, potato and ricotta homity pie (vegetarian)

Keri splits her time between being a development chef for The Watercress Company and building her own vegetarian and vegan catering business, V Dorset. She is passionate about watercress, both as an ingredient and for its fantastic health benefits and is devoted to developing new and delicious ways for you to incorporate more of it into your diet.

This Watercress, potato and ricotta vegetarian pie recipe from Keri is perfect for British Pie Week (4th-10th March 2019).

Ingredients

  • Serves 8
  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cooking time: 60 minutes plus cooling time
  • 650g new potatoes
  • 85g watercress, roughly chopped
  • 200g sliced spring greens
  • 3 eggs
  • 4 tbsp double cream
  • 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
  • 250g ricotta, drained
  • 125g asparagus tips
  • 1 bunch spring onions, finely sliced
  • 100g fresh or frozen peas
  • 75g mature Cheddar, grated
  • 3 tbsp breadcrumbs
  • For the pastry:
  • 1 x 500g pack shortcrust pastry, diced
  • 70g mature Cheddar, grated
  • 1 tbsp curly parsley, finely chopped
  • Flour for dusting

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and place a baking tray on the middle shelf to heat up. Make the pastry by placing the diced shortcrust and Cheddar into a food processor. Pulse until combined, ensuring that there are no large lumps. Add the parsley and pulse for a few more seconds until fully mixed. Bring together into a ball and turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll out the dough to a circle large enough to line a 22cm pie dish, then line the dish and trim the edges. Place in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
2. Put the potatoes in a large pan of salted water and bring to the boil. Simmer for around 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and leave to cool before roughly slicing.
3. Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to the boil and add in the spring greens. Cook for 6-8 minutes or until tender before adding in the watercress for the last 30 seconds of cooking. Drain and run over cold water to cool. Squeeze out any excess water and set aside.
4. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, mustard and ricotta until combined. Season well with salt and pepper. Cut the asparagus tips off and reserve, then cut the stalks into 1cm chunks and add to the ricotta mix along with the greens, peas, and potatoes. Reserve a little of the spring onions and cheese for later then add the rest to the mixture and combine well.
5. Take the pastry base from the fridge and line with the breadcrumbs before tipping in the ricotta mixture, pressing down with a spoon until tightly packed. Arrange the asparagus tips on top, then scatter over the remaining cheese and spring onions.
6. Place on the pre-heated baking tray and bake in the centre of the oven for 45 minutes, or until the filling is set and the pastry is golden. Leave to stand for 15 minutes before serving.

In these challenging times…

The Staff Canteen team are taking a different approach to keeping our website independent and delivering content free from commercial influence. Our Editorial team have a critical role to play in informing and supporting our audience in a balanced way. We would never put up a paywall and restrict access – The Staff Canteen is open to all and we want to keep bringing you the content you want; more from younger chefs, more on mental health, more tips and industry knowledge, more recipes and more videos. We need your support right now, more than ever, to keep The Staff Canteen active. Without your financial contributions this would not be possible.

Over the last 12 years, The Staff Canteen has built what has become the go-to platform for chefs and hospitality professionals. As members and visitors, your daily support has made The Staff Canteen what it is today. Our features and videos from the world’s biggest name chefs are something we are proud of. We have over 500,000 followers across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and other social channels, each connecting with chefs across the world. Our editorial and social media team are creating and delivering engaging content every day, to support you and the whole sector - we want to do more for you.

A single coffee is more than £2, a beer is £4.50 and a large glass of wine can be £6 or more.

Support The Staff Canteen from as little as £1 today. Thank you.