Homity Pies - introducing Voakes Free From

This is a recipe adapted from a childhood favourite. Many years ago, at the height of the 1970s a vegetarian restaurant called "Cranks" pended in London. In the 1980s I visited with my mother, and she bought their cookbook. One of our favourites was a small "Homity Pie" which was basically potato and veg in a pastry case topped with cheese. It's still my favourite kind of food, and I decided to reinvent it for my daughter.

I've had a few wonderful mail order recommendations recently which have made my free from cooking so much easier. The first is Voakes Free From . Their sausage rolls are amazing, my youngest son loves them, and his older brother is particularly partial to their pork pies. Although there is nothing ready made my daughter can eat their pastry has been little short of a revelation.

Voakes Free From - https://www.voakesfreefrom.co.uk

Those of you trying to make MEWS and Gluten Free pastry will have had limited success I suspect, but at LAST, here is a pastry ready made, freezes well AND ROLLS BEAUTIFULLY. What is even MORE amazing, it tastes delicious too. A real winner!

I should point out here - this is neither a sponsored post or one solicited by Voakes. They don't know me or that I am writing it. I firmly believe that anyone helping life easier for those of us catering for exclusion diets deserves a huge pat on the back. It's far too easy to make sugar-loaded biscuits and cakes but free from (and not containing soya - here's looking at you Sainsbury's!!!!) savoury food that is tasty and nourishing is hard to come by. I highly recommend them - excellent service too.

So I didn't make the pastry for this recipe. And I didn't make the cheese sauce either....

Vegusto is a company I have used before, but not for some time. Their cheese has nuts in so it isn't safe for all, and some have other ingredients in which don't suit everyone, but our issue was the strong taste which I - as a true cheese love, liked - but which my daughter hated. However, children grow up and I pretended it was a new product..... and she accepted the Moo Free Sauce quite readily!

Vegusto No-Moo Cheese Sauce

I was quite keen to persevere, since unlike the milder tasting Violife cheese, Vegusto No-Moo has protein in it.

So, on to the recipe. It's really, really simple.

Method

• Roll out the pastry and using a large cutter and a deep muffin tin, cut the pastry cases out and place in the tin wells.
• Par-boil potatoes, cool and roughly cut into largish chunks. 
• Part cook vegetables of your choice.
• Mix with some cheese sauce (important the veg isn't too well cooked or it collapses at this point)
• Fill the cases with the cases with the mixture
• Grate some free from cheese (I did use Violife here) on top
• Back for approx 20 mins at 180C

Tip - these don't freeze but are delicious hot! 

Suggestion :- 

I rolled another portion of pastry, filled a large pie dish and froze it in the dish (freezer proof dish). I now have a ready made case to fill with apple/other fruit or to make a savoury pie.

I cannot tell you how exciting it is to be able to handle free from pastry which doesn't keep breaking!!