Celery and Walnut Pies

Method

First make the filling. Chop the celery heart into small pieces. Peel and chop the garlic finely. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the celery and cook it over a gentle heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes, until soft. Then add the garlic and dill seeds and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the flour, before gradually stirring in the milk. Put the pan back on to the heat and let it bubble, stirring constantly, until thickened (about 3 minutes). Stir in the mustard. Season to taste with salt and the cayenne pepper. Turn into a bowl, cover with a piece of greaseproof paper and put to one side to cool

For the pastry: sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Holding the block of frozen butter in a cloth at one end, grate it coarsely, mixing it into the flour a little at a time with a fork. Then work in the grated cheese. Finally mix in the water with a fork until the dough begins to stick together. Gently press it together into a ball and let it stand in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Jane and Brian suggest a coffee at this point!

Take ¾ of the dough and roll it out on a floured surface to about 1/8 inch thick. Cut out 18 rounds with a 3-inch diameter pastry cutter and line the tins. Pile a heaped tablespoon of the filling in each round and then place a half-walnut on top of the filling. Roll out the remaining dough and with 2½ inch cutter cut another 18 rounds to top the pies. Put on the tops, press the edges to seal and cut a small slit in each top for the steam to escape. Heat the oven to 220°C. Brush the tops of the pies with milk. Cook in the centre of your oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. After removing them from the oven, let the pies stand in their tins for around 10 minutes before easing them out with a knife and transferring to a cooling rack, or your plate! (I plan to serve them hot with a tomato sauce, as a main course, when our vegetarian friends next come for supper).

Party Time! Well not just now – sadly it always feels as though the party is well and truly over at this time of year. Though as I write, the sun is shining cheerfully on a cold, crisp day, which does so brighten up this potentially gloomy month of January. On more dull days, I love taking time out at the kitchen table with a steaming mug of tea, to browse through my cookery notes from over the festive season – ideas picked up at various social events.

Other peoples’ parties always produce at least one stunning recipe, which I simply must try out. At one such evening, I was not the only person to think that the delicious celery and walnut pies, which Brian and Jane Wiles had brought along, were no less than stunning. They are kindly sharing the recipe with us all, which originally comes from an old Josceline Dimbleby cookery book. Brian has adapted the amounts of the filling to what is just right for the amount of pastry. They can be served hot, but I thought they tasted wonderful cooled. I heartily recommend you try them out.

Mrs Trewhitless