Hand Pies with Mushroom Duxelle and Spinach
A buttery, flaky crust envelopes a fabulous savoury filling of mushrooms and spinach. You can cook these in the oven, or even in the air-fryer, and they can be prepared in advance to save you time when entertaining.
How long will it take?
1 ½ hours, plus chilling time
What’s the serving size?
Serves 6
What do I need?
For the Dough
- 360 g plain flour
- Pinch of salt
- 180 g cold vegan butter, cubed
- Ice cold water
For the Filling
- 250 g mushrooms
- 2 tbsp vegan butter, divided
- ¼ cup finely chopped shallot
- 1 ½ tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
- Salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ¼ cup white wine
- 300 g baby spinach
- 30 mL water
For the Milk Wash
- 1 tbsp plant-based milk
- 1 tbsp cold water
How do I make it?
- Make pastry by placing flour, salt, and butter into the bowl of a stand mixer and blending on low until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Add just enough water to bring the mixture together. Use your hands to shape into a disc and wrap in clingfilm. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Meanwhile prepare the filling by adding mushrooms to a food processor and blending until they are finely chopped. Place mushrooms inside a piece of muslin or an old tea towel and twist to wring out as much liquid as possible from the mushrooms.
- Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat and add half the butter. Add mushrooms, shallot, thyme, salt, and pepper to the frying pan and cook until all liquid released by the mushrooms has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add remaining butter and when it has melted add the wine. Cook until the wine has evaporated, then taste and season again if desired. Set aside.
- Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat and add spinach and water. Cover with a lid and cook until the spinach wilts, then remove from heat and drain to remove any excess liquid.
- Preheat oven to 200C and line a large baking sheet with baking paper.
- Remove dough from fridge and let stand for 10 minutes to soften slightly. Roll dough out to 3 millimetres thickness. Cut dough into 15-centimetre circles and fill each with 2 – 3 tablespoons of filling, taking care not to overfill. Use a fork to poke some holes in the top to allow steam to escape during cooking.
- Whisk milk and water together with a fork to make the wash, then brush outside edge of the dough with wash. Fold the dough over and use a fork or your fingers to crimp the edges together to seal.
- Brush the tops of the hand pies with more milk wash, arrange on the tray and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the filling is hot. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.
TOP TIPS
- These can be served hot or cold.
- They will keep for 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge or they can be frozen for up to 2 months.
- Short on time? Use a store-bought ready-to-cook pastry
