A pithivier is a French enclosed circular pie. It looks fancy, but with shop-bought puff pastry is relatively simple. You will only need the cylinder end of the squash for this – choose one with a diameter of roughly 8–10cm/3¼–4 inches. Keep the rest of the squash wrapped in the fridge for up to a week, or cube and roast for tomorrow’s salad. Serve with steamed broccoli or a light green salad.

You could replace the squash in this recipe with a similar sized disc of celeriac or beetroot wedges; use a total of 350g/12oz of vegetable across the two pies.

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C.
• Rub the squash discs all over with a little olive oil and season. Place on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 40 minutes, until a knife will easily glide through the centre. Remove from the oven and slide the squash onto a cooling rack to cool down. Raise the temperature of the oven to 200°C fan/220°C.
• Meanwhile, prepare the rest of your filling. Add ½ tablespoon of olive oil to a frying pan over a medium heat and briefly sauté the chopped garlic to soften. Add the chopped kale along with 1 tablespoon of water and cook for 1–2 minutes, until just wilted. Set aside to cool.
• Unroll the sheet of puff pastry and use a bowl or plate as a guide to cut your pastry circles. The two circles for the base should have a diameter at least 2cm/1 inch bigger than your butternut squash discs. The other two circles for the top need to be 1cm/½ inch bigger than the pastry bases.
• Transfer the smaller discs to a lined baking tray. Place the butternut squash discs in the centre of the smaller circles and top each with 2 teaspoons of sun-dried tomato paste, three slices of mozzarella, and the cooked kale.
• Wet the edges of the pastry base with a little water, then place the larger pastry circle on top of the filling to create a dome shape. Squidge the edges together, then use a small knife to make a tiny hole at the top. Gently score curves around the pie from the centre hole towards the edges (don’t go through the pastry) to create the classic pithivier look. Brush the pastries all over with the whisked egg yolk.
• Bake the pithiviers in the oven for 25 minutes until the pastry is browned and crispy all over, and the base is firm and crusty when tapped.

Recipe adapted from It Starts With Veg (Pavilion)
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