Named after the central French city of the identical title (which, confusingly, additionally claims a a lot older almond cake, thepithiviers fondant, as its personal), the pithivier is a free-standing puff pastry pie so magnificent that it’s as a lot centrepiece as dinner. The standard instance, which isn't dissimilar to the frangipane-filled galette des rois made to have a good time Epiphany, has a candy almond centre, although today a pithivier is simply as prone to be savoury.
Certainly, although charcutier Nicolas Verot tells me that “what makes the massive distinction between a pithivier and a pie [tourte] is that a pithivier incorporates unchopped meat [or vegetables], not like a tourte”, although in actuality, it appears, something goes. Pierre Koffman does a pheasant one, Rosie Birkett a model full of cauliflower cheese, Parisian patissier and movie star chef Cyril Lignac provides truffle to his pork and cheese quantity … the record goes on. The truth is, the web is stuffed with recipes for pithiviers filled with fish, fruit, and even tofu and mushrooms – chopped and in any other case.
Tough because it was to slim it down, I’ve determined to concentrate on a cheese-and-potato filling, for the only real cause that a pithivier is, in Bake Off parlance, a real showstopper, and in my expertise nothing stops reveals in addition to molten cheese. The recommendation on the pastry and development, nonetheless, applies no matter you place inside.
The pastry
I’m beginning with the pastry as a result of, actually, that is what defines the pithivier – with out puff pastry, it’s only a pie. It's undeniably extra faff than shortcrust to make, however after following the directions in Calum Franklin’s e book The Pie Room, I’m reminded that the time-consuming facet of the method is ready for the pastry to relax between rolls and folds, relatively than that a lot lively work. I'd subsequently commend this to you as a chance to make your personal, not least as a result of I struggled to search out butter puff pastry in my native retailers, and the non-butter sort out there commercially usually incorporates palm oil. Be at liberty to make use of no matter you like, however do take into account having a go for an important day (and when else would you make a pithivier?). I haven’t put a recipe under, as a result of, frankly, I couldn’t enhance on Franklin’s.
Home made or not, it’s necessary that the pastry and the filling are nicely chilled earlier than you begin development, and I’d suggest rolling it out a bit thinner than the 2-3cm known as for by Mark Hix within the Impartial (although I think that this needs to be a typo, so I don’t even attempt it). I do attempt a intelligent, one-sheet model by Caro Blackwell on the Style of Savoie weblog, which includes reducing out pastry like a tulip, then bringing the petals collectively on prime to seal, however I’m too clumsy and find yourself with a cheese Vesuvius. If you're equally bothered, I’d keep on with the usual two-sheet technique under, as a substitute, welded along with egg wash. A lot safer.
The potatoes
I'd not advise including uncooked potatoes, nonetheless thinly sliced, to a pie, as the Waitrose web site suggests; even simmered in inventory for 2 minutes, as Hix recommends, they’re relatively crunchy for my testers’ tastes. A lot as I really like potatoes, they're much higher mushy. Franklin goes so far as to make a dauphinoise, simmering the spuds in milk and cream, then baking them in a slab earlier than placing them in his pie, which is, in fact, extraordinarily widespread, however, given that you just’ve in all probability already been busy making pastry, I’m going to maintain issues less complicated with slices of cooked potato, as in Blackwell’s recipe.
Australian meals author Phoebe Wooden deserves a particular point out for filling her pie with crushed potato. I really like mash with a pie, particularly when gravy is concerned, however we agree that in a pie, we choose one thing with a bit extra structural integrity, particularly as a result of the cheese layer above it ought to, in a pithivier, be liquid.
The cheese
I exploit lactic lancashire in Hix’s recipe, the outcomes of which remind me pleasurably of our personal cheese-and-onion pies, and tangy, mature cheddar in Franklin’s; the Waitrose model calls for nutty gruyere and Wooden salty crumbled feta. All, in fact, are very tasty – potatoes and cheese at all times make a good-looking couple – with the feta particularly including a refreshingly gentle, summery observe, however I’m after a cheese that can soften nearly like a gravy, which makes Blackwell’s Alpine reblochon the apparent candidate. Reblochon just isn't the best cheese to pay money for and, good because it tastes, its chief attraction is the obliging method it behaves when heated, so additionally keep in mind camembert, baron bigod, wigmore, vacherin mont d’or, tunworth and brie, all of which ought to work nicely, as will most different mushy rinded cheeses. That mentioned, for those who choose, substitute roughly 150g grated laborious cheese, as a substitute.
The extras
You possibly can go away it at potatoes and cheese, frankly, however you could want to add a vegetable, too, to make the filling a bit much less dense – Franklin provides a layer of caramelised onions, Hix and Blackwell use uncooked onions, and Waitrose goes for garlic. I’ve chosen Wooden’s sauteed leeks, as a result of I like their sweetness with cheese and in addition as a result of the likes of a pithivier ought to delight the attention in addition to the tastebuds, they usually add a cheerful flash of inexperienced to proceedings. You possibly can additionally go for a layer of butternut squash, as Waitrose suggests, for those who’d wish to make it actually vibrant, or Barney Desmazery’s celeriac – or, certainly, any vegetable you want, although, as ever with pastry, I’d strongly counsel ridding it of as a lot water as attainable earlier than letting it anyplace close to the puff.
Due to the character of the cheese I’m utilizing, I don’t assume the potatoes want the creamy sauce that some recipes embrace, however I shall be including some bacon lardons, as in Blackwell’s nearly tartiflette-like filling, as a result of their savoury flavour works so nicely with the opposite components. For those who’d choose to maintain your pithivier meat-free, nonetheless, relaxation assured that you'll not be lacking out by omitting them.
The seasoning
I don’t assume it's essential get too intelligent right here, so I received’t be including fennel or caraway seeds, as Wooden does, or rosemary (each Franklin and Desmazery); a pinch of thyme and a grating of nutmeg with the leeks will do. Don’t be tempted to gild the lily; this dish is magnificent sufficient by itself.
Excellent cheese and potato pithivier
Prep 10 min
Chill 30 min
Cook dinner 1 hr 20 min
Serves 4-6
1kg pretty massive potatoes, ideally waxy ones (eg charlotte or desiree)
Salt
100g unsmoked bacon lardons, or chopped thick-cut bacon (non-compulsory)
2 sprigs recent thyme, picked
1 tbsp oil, or butter
4 massive leeks, trimmed, washed and sliced
Nutmeg, to style
700g puff pastry (see introduction)
Flour, for rolling
1 medium mushy cheese (eg reblochon, camembert, brie, vacherin, Baron Bigod)
1 egg, crushed with slightly water
Convey a big pan of salted water to a boil. In the meantime, peel and thinly slice the potatoes, add them to the pan and boil for about six to eight minutes, till tender however not falling aside. Drain nicely.
If omitting the bacon, skip to the subsequent step. If not, fry the lardons in a big frying pan over a medium warmth till it’s frivolously golden and beginning to give off its oil. Stir within the thyme, then add the potatoes and toss gently to coat, being cautious to not break them up. Season generously, then tip right into a bowl and go away to chill fully.
Warmth the fats over a medium-low warmth in the identical frying pan, then saute the leeks till mushy however not browned. Season with salt and slightly nutmeg, and, for those who’re not utilizing bacon, add the thyme now as nicely. Go away to chill fully.
In the meantime, divide the pastry in two, wrap one half nicely and put it again within the fridge. Roll out the remaining pastry half on a frivolously floured floor to about 5mm thick, then reduce out a circle the scale of a giant dinner plate and placed on a lined baking sheet. Chill till the filling components are chilly.
Unfold out the cooled leeks in the course of the pastry circle, leaving a few centimetres free across the edges …
… then prepare the potato and lardons combine on prime.
Push the cheese down on prime of the potatoes, constructing the potatoes up round it to provide the filling a gently rounded profile.
Roll out the second half of the pastry right into a circle slightly bigger than the primary. Brush the sides of the stuffed piece of pastry with egg wash, then fastidiously drape the second sheet excessive and press down throughout the sides to seal.
Minimize a small gap within the centre of the highest, then rating curved strains everywhere in the prime down from the outlet to the sting, being cautious to not reduce during. Brush with egg, then chill for half-hour.
Warmth the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gasoline 6. Bake the pithivier for 35-45 minutes, till golden, and serve scorching.
The pithivier: are you a frangipane traditionalist, or do you agree that this stunning pie is just too good to restrict to dessert? And, if that's the case, what do you wish to put in yours?
UK readers: click on to purchase these components from Ocado
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