Roasted Butternut Squash and Goats Cheese Pie

If you're making this for a vegetarian meal then make sure to use a vegetarian hard cheese instead of the Parmesan and use instead of lard use a pure vegetable fat (you should be able to find an 80% white block of vegetable fat in most large supermarkets).

Ingredients:

• 1/2 a large butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 cm pieces
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 150 fresh spinach
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 125g soft goats cheese
• Hot water pastry made with 175g flour, 60g lard and 70ml water
• 25g grated Parmesan cheese

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees
2. Place the butternut squash into a roasting dish and roast for 45 minutes.
3. Put the onion in a large saucepan with the olive oil and fry over a medium heat for a few minutes.
4. Add the spinach to the saucepan, turn the heat down and then cover with a lid.
5. Leave the spinach to slowly reduce down, stirring every 5 minutes or so. It'll probably take 20 minutes to reduce down to a green mush.
6. Remove from the heat and start to make the pastry.
7. While the pastry is resting, mix the onion and spinach with the butternut squash, cumin and goats cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
8. Line a pie dish with the pastry.
9. Bake the pastry on it's own in the oven for 30 minutes.
10. Put the filling into the half-baked pastry and return to the oven for another 30 minutes.
11. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the top of the pie and return to the oven for another 20 minutes.
12. Optionally, 10 minutes from the end, you can brush the exposed crust with some milk to bring out a better colour in it.
13. Leave to stand for a few minutes before serving.

Makes enough to fill a 23cm low pie/flan dish, serving about 5 people.