Mushroom & Leek Pot Pies

I first made these pies for Richard on his birthday in July, knowing Richard loves his mushrooms, and i've never made a pie before, i decided to give it a go. I actually bookmarked quite a few dishes from this book, & me being so indecisive, it took me a couple days to finally make up my mind hehe.

These pot pies are vegetarian, full of flavour (without too many additions of flavours), and are quite filling as well. It doesn;t have many ingredients, and is so simple to make! All i needed was four ramekins, which i got at Woolworths at about $2 each.

Ingredients (serves 4)
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 leek, sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 kg large field mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon chopped thyme
300ml pouring cream
1 sheet ready rolled puff pastry, thawed
1 egg yolk, beaten, to glaze

For the leek, this was my first time using i actually, and found this video online on how to prepare it. link here .

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees

2. heat 1 tablespoon oil in a frying pan over medium heat. cook the leek & garlic until the leek is translucent & soft (about 5 minutes). transfer to a large saucepan.

3. heat remaining oil in frying pan over high heat & cook the mushrooms in 2 batches, stirring frequently. for 5-7 minutes per batch, or until mushrooms have released their juices and are soft & slightly colored. Transfer to the saucepan, then add thyme.

4. place saucepan over high heat & stir in the cream. Cook, stirring occasionally for 78 minutes, or until the cream has reduced to a thick sauce/gravy.

5. remove from heat, and season well with salt & pepper.

6. Divide the filling among four 315ml (1.1/4 cu) ramekins or oven proof bowls.

7. cut pastry into round slightly bigger than each dish.

8. brush rims of ramekins with a little of the egg yolk, place pastry on top & press down to seal. brush the top with remaining yolk.

9. place ramekins onto a metal tray. bake for 20-25 minutes, or until pastry has risen and is golden brown.

tips!
make sure you brush the rims with egg yolk, & press down! (not too hard though, you'll break the pastry)
if you don't do this, the mixture will boil & bubble out and drip down your ramekins (not very neat looking!)


the result: crispy pastry top, with an awesome mushroom filling & delicious gravy as well. bon a petite!