Ingredients

Pastry:

• 350g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 150g cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 2 egg yolks
• Black pepper
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• Ice cold water to bring the dough together
• A little extra butter for greasing tin

Filling:

• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• Olive oil
• 1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• A little fresh nutmeg, grated
• 1 can of cooked lentils
• 100g chopped chestnuts
• 300g fresh baby spinach
• 350g ricotta
• 3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
• 400g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
• 1 jar of roasted red peppers, drained and patted dry
• 50g panko breadcrumbs
• 1 egg for egg wash
• salt and pepper for seasoning to taste

Tools

• Food processor
• Non stick springform cake tin (mine is 19cm by 7cm depth)
• Saucepans
• Roasting tray On a floured surface, roll out 500g of the pastry to about 5mm (2/5in) thick. Transfer the pastry to a 20cm (8in) deep cake tin. Press the pastry against the bottom and sides to form a crust. Cut off any overhang. Use a fork to prick the bottom.
• Baking sheet
• Pastry brush
• A few mini xmas cookie cutters
• Rolling pin

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.
2. If you wish to make the pie all on the same day you can do this, begin by roasting the squash in the oven for about 45-50 mins with olive oil, sea salt and cumin seeds, roast until soft and dark golden then set aside.  You can do this the day before if you wish and chill until needed. Then prepare the pastry.
3. Grease the tin with butter.
4. To make the pastry blitz the cubed butter and flour in a food processor until it resembles breadcrumbs, add the salt, black pepper and egg yolk.
5. Blitz briefly, adding a little cold water through the spout until a dough begins to form, tip out on the surface and bring together kneading briefly.
6. Divide into two pieces, one of 2/3 weight and the other of 1/3. Form the mall piece into a ball and flatten out into a disc and wrap well with clingfilm, pop into the fridge.
7. For the tin, n a floured surface, roll out the larger piece pastry to about 4-5mm thickness into a round large enough to cover the base and fill Transfer the pastry to a 20cm (8in) deep cake tin. Press the pastry against the bottom and sides to form the base, press into the tin with your fingers, don’t worry if it tears a bit here and there and you can patch it up as needed, allow a little overhang at the top as we will use this to crimp over on the top once filled. Place in the fridge to chill while you do the rest of your fillings. 
8. Begin by frying the onion and garlic with a little olive oil in a large deep sauté pan or saucepan until soft and beginning to slightly caramelise, add in the crushed garlic and fry for a minute. Remove half of this into a bowl, set aside.
9. Add the spinach to the saucepan with half of the onion and garlic mixture and cook until just wilted. Place in the sink in a colander to drain off, press with a spoon to help squeeze out any excess water.
10. Wipe out the pan to get rid of any spinach water and add a little more olive il to the pan. Add the mushrooms and remaining onion and garlic mixture, cook on medium heat to quickly cook the mushrooms until they are soft and browning, season with salt and pepper, add a tablespoon of fresh parsley and set aside.
11. Drain the lentils and add to a small bowl with the chopped chestnuts, season and add 1 tbsp fresh chopped flat leaf parsley. Set aside.
12. Place the spinach into the processor and blitz. Add the ricotta, seasoning, nutmeg and parmesan and whizz up to combine, set aside.
13. Now begin to assemble the pie. Scatter half of the panko breadcrumbs into the base of the tin, then add all the cooled squash in and pack tightly and make level.
14. Cover over with the lentil layer and level off, using a spoon is fine for this it doesn’t need to be exact.
15. Add the spinach and ricotta next, level off.
16. Place the mushrooms over and level off.
17. Add the peppers over to create the last layer, press down, then scatter over with the remaining panko.
18. Roll out the remaining pastry on a floured surface in a circle a bit larger than the top. Dampen the top edge of pastry with beaten egg and pop the disc on top to cover the pie, press and pinch against the top of the overhang layer, it’s handy to trim off the excess except for about 1cm with some scissors, keep this excess to make a few starts or snowflakes to decorate.
19. Crimp the edges to seal, make a hole in the middle of the pie. Brush the top of the pie with egg wash, roll out the extra pastry and decorate as you wish, brush with egg wash and pop into the oven on a pre heated baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes or so and check it’s not getting too dark, turn the oven down to 160c fan and continue to bake for a further 15-20 mins until the pie is deep golden. If you think it is getting too dark you can cover with some foil to protect it.
20. Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 20 mins before unclipping and removing from the tin. Slice and serve with all the trimmings and plenty of gravy, merry Christmas!

Tip - Get ahead - You can make this ahead if you wish, the day before. Get the whole pie filled and topped and leave the last egg wash until ready to bake. Remove from the fridge an hour before you wish to bake then bake as below.