And so we reach that moment when the harvest is gathered in. Marrows, carrots, parsnips, celery, pumpkins, potatoes, green tomatoes and all those glorious autumn fruits are now waiting to be used up.
Don’t waste them. Even bruised and damaged fruits and vegetables can be used up, and either frozen for later, turned into pickles and chutneys or baked in a pie.
I’m not writing a recipe as such for your autumn harvest vegetable pie, as its content will depend on what you have gathered together during the past few weeks.
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Look at the vegetables you have, peel those that need peeling and cut them all into bite sized chunks. Green vegetables such as chard or spinach leaves can be added to the pie just before you add the pastry topping.
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Add to the mix of vegetable chunks a couple of chopped onions and a couple of cloves of garlic chopped fine, also a few fresh herbs if you have any. Marjoram, parsley and thyme will add a touch of magic to the mix.
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Mix all your chopped vegetables and herbs together.
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Cover the bottom of a large roasting pan with oil, add the vegetables to the pan and use a pastry brush to ensure that they are all coated with the oil, adding a little more oil if you need to.
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Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper corns, then roast at a medium heat until the vegetables begin to soften and brown, then remove from the oven.
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Scatter a few frozen peas to the mix if you want to add more colour contrast, and if you have spinach leaves or chard you wish to use up, add them at this point too.
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Place the roasted vegetables into a pie dish, pour on a little vegetable stock, and when cool add a short crust pastry top and cook until a delicious golden brown.
NOTE: I have sometimes added a few chunks of cooking apples to my autumn harvest vegetable pie to great effect.
This pie is certainly one way of ensuring that members of the family get their daily allowance of vegetables.