It’s that time of year again – Asparagus season! You can find it everywhere and there’s so much in our local supermarket that it is forever being reduced to clear at the end of the day. So I’ve been working out new ways to eat seasonal asparagus and I’ve concocted this summer pie recipe, including yummy smoked ham.
Ingredients: 125g/4oz plain flour, pinch of salt, 55g/2oz diced butter, 30-45ml/2-3 tbsp cold water, asparagus, cooked ham or gammon, parsley, 2 tbsp flour, 2 tbsp butter, milk.
First make up your pastry by mixing the 2oz of cubed butter with the 4oz plain flour and a pinch of salt using your fingertips to make a crumb mixture. Add a little of the water to bring it together as a dough, then cover in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for about 10 minutes while you make the filling. Melt the 2 tbsp butter in a saucepan then briskly stir in the 2 tbsp of flour to make a roux. Add in the milk, little-by-little, to turn it into a thick white sauce – then add chopped fresh parsley and stir through.
Steam your asparagus and slice into small pieces and shred your ham into similar size chunks, then add into the pie sauce and combine. Line a pie tin (I used a loaf tin which was plenty enough for 2/3 people) with the pastry, fill with the ham and asparagus mixture, then top with a pastry lid, leaving a couple of holes for the steam to escape. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for around 40 minutes but keep an eye on it and remove from the oven when the pastry goes golden brown. If the pastry browns too quickly, cover with tin foil and continue to bake until the sides and base are cooked through too.
More Pieday Friday articles
- Pieday Friday – Back to basics with bread (cassiefairy.com)
- Pieday Friday recipe ~ Sticky BBQ Ribs (cassiefairy.com)
