Wednesday 18 June 2014

Ratatouille Pies







  







I'm easily amused. Saying ratatouille makes me smile. It's right up there on the list of silly food names along with Boy Bait, Bubble and Squeak and Toad in the Hole. Sometimes I have the sense of humour of an 11 year old boy.


*NOTE: I made my own shortcrust pastry for these delicious little pies, but I totally understand if you use store-bought.



Ratatouille Pies
slightly adapted from Paul Allam and David McGuinness's Bourke Street Bakery
Makes 6

For the Pies:
1 large eggplant, cut into 2cm dice
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 cup olive oil
8 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 medium brown onion, finely chopped
4 large red capsicums, seeds removed and roughly chopped
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
100ml water
200g green beans, trimmed and thinly sliced and blanched until tender
300g zucchini, trimmed and cut into 1cm dice, quickly sauteed in a little olive oil until tender
275g jar preserved artichoke heart quarters, drained
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon fine salt (I used Pink Himalaya)
1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes
1/4 cup chopped finely chopped basil leaves
1/4 cup chopped finely chopped parsley leaves
1 quantity of savoury shortcrust pastry (recipe below) or 4 sheets of store-bought *See note
2 sheets of ready-rolled puff pastry
Egg wash: 1 egg whisked with 1 teaspoon water
Nigella seeds for sprinkling

For the Pastry:
300g cold unsalted butter, cut into 2cm cubes
600g plain flour (I use "00" flour)
1 teaspoon fine salt (I use Pink Himalaya)
3 teaspoons white vinegar,
2/3 cup chilled water

Make the Pastry:
Put the flour and salt into a food processor and blitz briefly to mix. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles course breadcrumbs. Mix the vinegar with the cold water and gradually add enough of it to the processor to form a ball of dough around the blade. Do not over process. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and bring it together into a ball. Press it out to a flat disc, cover with cling film and leave it to rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Make the Pie Filling:
Preheat the oven to 220C.

Put the eggplant on a baking tray in a single layer, sprinkle with salt and set aside for 10 minutes. Rinse and pat dry. Lay them on a baking tray lined with baking paper, drizzle with half of the olive oil and bake for 15 - 20 minutes until tender. Set side.

Put the onion, garlic, capsicums and tomatoes into a food processor and blitz briefly to finely chop.

Heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the tomato mixture to the pan along with the water, salt and chilli flakes. Bring to the boil. then reduce to simmer and cook for 45 minutes - 1 hours. This is the base of the filling and it needs to be thick to bind the other vegetables. Once thick, put it in a blender and whiz until smooth. Put it back in the pan and add the baked eggplant, blanched beans, sauteed zucchini, artichoke harts, Parmesan cheese and herbs. Stir to combine and check seasoning. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely before filling the pastry cases.

Assemble and Bake the Pies:
Preheat the oven to 200C and slide a baking sheet in the oven to heat up. Butter 6 x 12.5cm pie tins. Set aside.

If using homemade shortcrust, roll it out to 3mm. Cut 6 x 15cm diameter circles out of the dough and line the pie dishes with them. Spoon the filling into them, piling it up to just above the rim. Brush the edges of the pastry with egg wash.

Cut 6 x 13cm rounds out of the puff pastry for the lids. Lay the lids over the filling and press firm around the edges to seal. Trim excess pastry and crimp the edges. Brush the tops with egg wash, make a small hole in the centre of the lids to allow steam to escape and sprinkle with nigella seeds.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180C and put the pie dishes on the hot baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the filling is hot and the pastry is golden brown. Leave the pies to rest for 5 - 10 minutes before serving.




22 comments:

  1. Ratatoille now always makes me think of that ratty animation (which I quite liked, but now I can't separate rat from French vegetable dish). I love eating it but it's always been with rice or pasta to date. Love the thought of adding it into a deliciously golden pie. P.S Boy Bait? What is that?!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have the same association - doesn't stop me eating it though. If I've got the choice of rice, pasta or pastry with anything, I always choose pastry... just ask my thighs!

      Blueberry Boy Bait is a kind of blueberry muffin baked in a square cake pan with a crumble topping. Apparently the female who makes it, gets the man of her dreams. Very Betty Draper.

      Delete
    2. Ha! That's awesome. If I wasn't married I would totally do an experiment with that recipe (but actually, I kinda got my boy through making cheesecake. And pie. And lamb shanks. Cooking totally brings the boys to the yard... milkshakes were so last year).

      YES. Pastry and bread are always my choices. With lots and lots of salted butter!

      Delete
  2. These look so amazing!!! Love the filling!
    http://youtube.com/addalittlefood

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's my kind of food!!! I love ratatouille and yes, it's a funny name! Sometimes I have the humour of a 11 year old too and my boyfriend thinks that I'm crazy because I laugh at things that he doesn't think is. Oh well, I don't mind :) I made ratatouille with pasta last week, the pies could be made soon!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You and I could laugh at the same things and leave the boys to their own devices.

      Delete
  4. I love, love love savory pies.. Can eat them anytime, anywhere. These look so delicious Jennifer!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Maria. These are good for anytime, anywhere... and thank goodness for that.

      Delete
  5. Putting ratatouille (my favorite dish of all time with moussaka) in a pie is simply an amazing idea. These pies look gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. They are a great meat-free alternative.

      Delete
  6. This is such a brilliant idea! I've never seen ratatouille pies before -- they look so totally delicious and impressive.
    Pinning!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Abbie. They are so easy to eat... and photograph.

      Delete
  7. I love ratatouille, both the movie and the dish :) A friend of mine used to make something very similar to these, before she became a low-carb body building convert...such a waste.
    Anyway, these look absolutely perfect for a wintery lunch. Tucked inside a lunchbox with a big green salad I am sure I will be one step closer to wintery nirvana.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love these little pies, they are really adorable. Little foods like this really appeal to me, I would imagine you can add any combination of ingredients here. Very impressive. Just pinned.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. These low-carb body building types are crazy - I admire their commitment, but they are seriously nuts. These are lunchbox material for sure.

      Delete
  9. This just looks beautiful! Great meatless recipe :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. My association with the word ratatouille is Fawlty Towers... showing my age! LOL!
    The pies look absolutely wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha. I love Fawlty Towers - don't mention the war.

      Delete