Port and Mushroom Mini Pies

When I was thinking up Christmas canapé recipes, I simply had to get port into one of them. I love port, It just lends itself to Christmas doesn’t it? I came up with these mini pies and I was so happy with how they turned out. Despite being so cute and small, the intensity of flavour was huge! Indulgent, rich, deep – and bitesize! Danny says they’re his favourite thing I’ve made him this year…

These cute little pies were adored by all and were eaten in a matter of minutes.

Tips

The only slightly tricky bit is the pastry. You have to work quite quickly before it starts to melt, but you can pop the bottoms of the pies in the fridge whilst you make the lattices.

The lattices may take a bit of figuring out, it’s one of those things that is quite hard to explain, but once you get one, you can bosh out the rest! You’ll need to ball up the scraps of pastry and roll it out to get enough out of the pastry, but there is the exact right amount in one roll.

There is also a super easy version, where you can cut out a small disc of pastry to put on the top of each pie.

Make sure you non-one confuses these with mince pies, they will be very surprised.

Check out www.barnivore.com for help on finding vegan port. I found this on their website which is helpful if you know your ports – “Bottle Matured Ports – Crusted, Traditional LBV, Single Quinta and Vintage are not fined and are therefore all suitable for Vegans. Wood Ports and Douro DOC are not suitable for vegans. Wood Ports are your Aged Tawny Ports, Reserve Port, Standard LBV, Standard Ports.”

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Port and Mushroom Mini Pies

A satisfying savoury perfect christmas mini pie.

Course Appetizer
Keyword mushrooms, pie, port
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings 12 mini pies

Ingredients

To make the caramlized onions

  • 2 red onions
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1-2 tsp brown sugar
  • 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 pinch salt

For the pies

  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • ½ leek
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 4 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 1 Tbsp fresh rosemary
  • 100 ml port check it's vegan
  • 100 g pre-cooked puy lentils we use merchant gourmet brand
  • 200 g chestnut button mushrooms
  • 1 ready rolled shortcrust pastry
  • ½ veg stock cube
  • 50 ml boiling water
  • ½ tsp marmite
  • 2 tsp cornflour
  • 1 tsp tomato purée
  • salt and pepper
  • vegan butter for greasing

Instructions

For the caramalized onions

  1. Peel and slice the onions. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan and when hot, add the onions with a generous pinch of salt. Cook on a very low heat for around 20 minutes. Stir occassionally to check it's not stcking to the bottom, add a tiny splash of water if so, but resist stirring to much. After 20 minutes add the balsamic vinegar and sugar and cook for at least another 20 minutes until soft and caramalized.

To make the pies

  1. Start by prepping the veg, trim the leek at both ends and chop finely. Peel and finely dice the garlic and chop up the herbs.

  2. Heat a Tbsp olive oil in a pan, add the leeks and a pinch of salt. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Then add the mushrooms, garlic and herbs and cook for a few minutes.

  3. Add the tomato purée, stir in then add the cornflour and stir again. Add the lentils and 100ml port, cook on a medium heat until most of the liquid has been absorbed.

  4. Prepare the veg stock using ½ a stock cube and 50ml boiloing water, add to the pan along with the marmite. Stir and cook for 5 minutes. Then take off the heat

  5. Heat the oven to 180°c. Take the pastry out of the fridge to come to room temperature. Grease a 12-hole cupcake tin with vegan butter. Roll out the pastry and using a 7cm cookie-cutter, cut out 12 discs and gently press each one onto a cupcake hole. Pop the tray into the fridge whilst you make the lattice tops. Using the rest of the pastry, cut 48 rectangles roughly even in length (about 7cm long) then take four pieces and criss-cross them over and under each other to make a tiny lattice (see picture for reference). Repeat this with the rest of the strips until you have 12 lattices. You'll need to ball up the scrap bits of pastry and roll them out again so you can get enough out of the pastry. Try to work quick before the pastry melts.

  6. Take the tray out of the fridge and fill each pie with the mushroom mixture. Place a lattice on top of each pie, pushing down the ends with your finger so that the pastry sticks together. Trim the ends if needed.

  7. Brush each pie with a little oat milk and cook in the oven for 25 minutes or until lightly golden.