Preparation time
less than 30 mins
Cooking time
30 mins to 1 hour
Serves
Serves 2
By Matt Tebbutt
From Saturday Kitchen
Ingredients
- Garlic bulb: 1
- Red peppers, roasted, peeled and sliced into strips (reserve cooking juices): 2
- Baby spinach leaves: 100g/3½oz
- Portobello mushroom: 1 large
- Garlic clove, sliced: 1
- Chopped fresh thyme: 2 tsp
- Red beetroot, pre-cooked and peeled: 1 large
- Puff pastry: 500g/1lb 2oz
- Free-range egg, beaten: 1
To serve:
- Jarred red pepper, sliced: 1
- Red beetroot, julienned: 1
- Yellow beetroot, julienned: 1
- Olive oil: 3 tbsp
- Red wine vinegar: 1 tbsp
- Nigella seeds: 1 tsp
- Red chilli, chopped: 1
- Reserved mushroom and pepper cooking juices
Alternative Ingredients
Jarred red peppers are made by roasting whole red bell peppers until the skins are charred and blistered. The skins are then removed, leaving just the tender roasted pepper flesh and sweet, smoky roasted pepper flavour.
Roasting your own peppers at home makes the freshest, most flavourful roasted peppers but does take 30 mins or longer. The jars are just so much more convenient.
Choose peppers preserved in oil rather than vinegar which can sometimes dominate the flavour.
Method
- Roast the garlic and peppers: Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7. Wrap the whole garlic bulb in foil and place it in the oven for 30 minutes to confit. Place the red peppers on a baking tray and put them in the same oven for 30–40 minutes.
- Wilt the spinach: Once the garlic and peppers are cooked, reduce the oven temperature to 190C/170C Fan/Gas 5. In a large saucepan, wilt the spinach. Drain the spinach well and squeeze out any excess moisture. Set aside.
- Roast the mushroom: Put the whole Portobello mushroom, sliced garlic clove, and chopped fresh thyme in a large roasting tin. Cover with kitchen foil and roast for 20 minutes until soft. Once cooked, set aside and collect the cooking juices.
- Assemble the filling: Squeeze the confit garlic onto the upturned cooked mushroom. Place the pre-cooked and peeled red beetroot on top of the garlic. Cover with the wilted spinach and then the roasted red pepper strips.
- Prepare the pastry: Roll out the puff pastry to 1cm thick and cut out two circles, one slightly bigger than the mushroom and one double the size.
- Assemble the pithivier: Sit the mushroom filling on the smaller pastry circle and brush the edge with beaten egg. Place the larger pastry circle on top and press down the edges to seal. Using a fork, crimp around the edge. Brush the top with beaten egg.
- Bake the pithivier: Bake the assembled pithivier in the oven for 25 minutes.
- Prepare the garnish: To garnish, mix together the sliced jarred red pepper, julienned raw red and yellow beetroots, olive oil, red wine vinegar, nigella seeds, and chopped red chilli. Add the reserved mushroom and pepper cooking juices.
- Serve: Serve the baked pithivier alongside the prepared garnish.