Creamy Mushroom and Butterbean Pie

This was an experimental pie filling of mine which turned out really well; in fact exactly as I imagined, which is always a bonus when cooking something without a recipe for the first time! Not many pictures of the final product as I served this when we had guests round for dinner, but suffice to say it was yummy. This uses pre-made puff pastry isn't actually that complicated to cook.

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:

500g puff pastry
400g mushrooms (any type)
2 cloves garlic
1 onion
1 leek
1 x tin butterbeans
200ml double cream
100ml red wine (optional)
plain flour (optional, can substitute for gluten flour alternative e.g. cornflour)
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried parsley

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C / 390 degrees F / Gas mark 6
If using a block of puff pastry, remove from the fridge prior to cooking the filling, as it will need 20 - 30 minutes before rolling it out.

1. Chop onion, leek and garlic and fry on a medium heat for 10 minutes until beginning to soften.

2. Slice mushrooms thinly and add to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes or so.

3. Add the red wine and continue to cook on a medium heat until reduced.

4. Add the cream and herbs and stir through. Add the butterbeans and continue to cook until the mushrooms have reduced in size. If the sauce needs thickening, add a little bit of flour at a time until the sauce has reached its desired consistency.

5. Season with salt and pepper and set to one side whilst you prepare the pastry.

6. Grease a large baking dish (the sort you might cook a lasagna in). If you do not have a suitable sized dish,  use two smaller dishes (this is what I did). Take the pastry and cut a 1/3 block away. This will be for the lid of the pastry. With the other two thirds, roll it out thinly so that it is large enough to hang over the edge of the dish. Line the baking dish with it and prick lightly with a fork.

7. Add the filling to the dish - it may not fill the dish up and this is fine, as the puff pastry will rise so you want some space.

8. Roll the other third of pastry out thinly and place on top of the filling. Fold down the excess pastry from the base so that the top and bottom pastry pieces are joined. Brush with milk or egg if you like, and score the top of the pastry.

9. Bake in oven for around 30 minutes until the pastry is cooked.