Butternut Squash, Leek & Ricotta Lattice Pie

A delicious savoury pie with a vegetarian filling of leeks, butternut squash, fresh sage and ricotta cheese. Topped with a pretty lattice

Course Main Course

Cuisine British

Keyword Pie

Prep Time 45

Cook Time 35

Total Time 1 20

Servings

Calories 424kcal

Author thebakingexplorer

Ingredients

For the pastry

300 g Plain flour (all purpose flour)
150 g Butter or baking spread unsalted, cold
1 Egg large
2 tbsp Milk any kind
A pinch of Salt

For the filling

½ tbsp Vegetable oil
285 g Leeks diced
¼ tsp Ground nutmeg
465 g Butternut squash diced (one medium sized squash)
1 ½ tsp Fresh sage about 6 leaves, finely chopped
250 g Ricotta cheese
50 g Italian grated hard cheese I used a vegetarian Pecorino
½ tsp Dried thyme
½ tsp Salt

For glazing

1 Egg medium, beaten

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 180C Fan/400F/Gas Mark 6
Place the diced butternut squash onto a baking tray and roast for 15-20 minutes or until tender, set aside to cool
In a pan, heat the oil on a low-medium heat. Add the leeks and nutmeg, cook for around 8 minutes or until the leeks have softened, set aside to cool
To make the pastry, place the flour and salt into a mixing bowl and stir together. Add the butter in small chunks. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. You can also do this in a food processor
Add the egg and milk, and mix until a dough is formed. If it is too dry, add a little more milk. Split the dough, use about ⅔ of it for the pie base. Wrap the rest in cling film and put in the fridge
Roll the dough out for the base on a lightly floured surface, line a pie tin (I used a 23cm wide and 4cm deep tin) with the dough and trim the edges, leaving a little over hang. (You can add any trimmed pastry to the reserved pastry for the lattice top). Place in the fridge for 30 minutes
Once the squash and leeks have cooled and the pastry is chilled, and you are ready to assemble the pie. Pre-heat your oven to 200C Fan/425F/Gas Mark 7
In a mixing bowl, add the leeks, butternut squash, ricotta, pecorino, sage, thyme and salt. Mix together and fill the pastry base with the mixture
Roll out the remaining pastry and cut into even sized strips, about 1 inch wide. Place four strips vertically and evenly spaced over the pie. Fold back two alternate strips. Place one strip of dough horizontally towards one side of the pie and pull the two folded back strips over it. Then fold back the two other strips. Place another piece of dough horizontally across the pie and pull the two folded back strips over it, then fold back the other two strips. Keep repeating this process until you have four vertical and four horizontal strips inter weaving across the pie
Trim the edges of the strips so they meet the pie edge, use the beaten egg to stick them to the overhanging pastry of the pie base and then glaze the top of the pie with beaten egg all over the pastry
Bake for 30-35 minutes until deep golden all over. If the pie browns too quickly on the edges, you can cover it with foil or use a pie shield
Serve warm, or allow to cool fully and store in the fridge for 3 days

Notes

I used unsalted butter for the pastry, if you use salted butter then omit the pinch of salt from the recipe. Or you can use a baking spread like Stork, I've had great results making this pastry with Stork.
I used a large eggs for the pastry, if you only have medium that's ok. You may find you need to add extra water or milk to the pastry if it doesn't quite come together with a medium egg.
If you don't have nutmeg, you could use ground cloves or allspice instead.
Butternut squash if of course the star of this pie, but you could also use pumpkin or another type of squash.
Pecorino is an Italian grated hard cheese, check the packet to make sure it is suitable for vegetarians as some brands might not be. You can swap it for another vegetarian suitable Italian hard cheese, or use a strong cheddar.
Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50).
For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.

Nutrition