Recipes

Recipe: Carnival pie

Recipe: Carnival pie

Pie top

Filling

For the mash

Bring a pot of salted water to the boil.
Cut the cauliflower into florets. Peel and chop the potatoes and kumara into same-size cubes.
Place the veg into the boiling water, reduce heat, and cook for about 15 mins till tender. Remove from the heat, drain. Add cream, cheese, and herbs. Mash till combined and season with salt and pepper to taste. Put the lid back on and set aside.

For the filling

Finely chop onion and mince garlic.
If using garlic powder, add this when you do the other herbs and spices.
Peel carrot and finely grate along with courgette and celery (discard celery fibres).
Add a splash of oil to a large fry pan. Cook onions on medium heat for 5 mins until starting to change colour. Add carrot, courgette, celery, herbs, spices, salt, and a splash of water. Stir well, cover, and cook for another 5 mins, stirring occasionally.
Rinse and drain lentils. Add to fry pan with tomatoes, water, stock cube, and any extra vegetables. Stir well, cover, and simmer for 10–15 mins until most liquid is gone and vegetables are cooked down. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Bring it together

Pour the contents of the fry pan into an oven dish. Carefully spoon on the mash and smooth with a spatula.
Sprinkle with cheese and place in preheated oven for about 20 mins until cheese is melted.
Cool pie slightly before serving.

For a vegan version, Carnival Pie can be made without any of the cheese or sour cream, or butter and milk. Simply cook the cauliflower, kumara, and potato in vegetable stock and use extra virgin olive oil and/or coconut cream in the mash. This is what I did the first time I made it and it tastes great. The coconut makes me think of Jamaica for some reason and it’s partly why I called it Carnival Pie!
I’ve added chili flakes to spice it up – I didn’t overdo it, so my kids still ate it.
If you can’t be bothered to wait for the oven, or you’re in a rush, put the pie under the grill to brown it off.
I use this pie to get rid of spinach, cabbage, or packets of coleslaw lingering in the fridge. I just add it all to the grated veg at the start. The exception is spinach (baby or otherwise), which I add at step 4 of the filling. Same for frozen veg and capsicum.

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Pie top

Filling