Aubergine, tomato & halloumi pie

Bake this veggie pie for a meat-free Monday – you can feed the family and still have leftovers for lunch the next day. Serve with a handful of salad leaves

Prep:25 mins
Cook:1 hrs

Serves 8
Easy

Nutrition per serving

kcal 540
fat 39g
saturates 15g
carbs 28g
sugars 8g
fibre 7g
protein 16g
salt 1.6g

Ingredients

6 tbsp olive oil or rapeseed oil
2 large aubergines, cut into thin rounds
1 large red onion, halved and sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp ground coriander
400g can chopped tomatoes
1 ½ tbsp pomegranate molasses or good balsamic vinegar
small bunch mint, leaves chopped
270g block halloumi, cut into 8 slices
500g block all-butter puff pastry
50g pine nuts, toasted
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Tip

Swapping pine nuts

Pine nuts add great texture to this pie, but you can swap for almonds or walnuts, if you prefer.

Make it vegan

Did you know that most varieties of ready-made puff pastry are vegan? Just don’t go for the all-butter variety. If you swap the halloumi for extra roasted veg and the egg for oat or soya milk, you’ve got a delicious vegan pie.

Method

Heat 2 tbsp oil in your largest frying pan. Cook the aubergine slices for about 5 mins on each side until golden brown and soft – you’ll need to add more oil between batches. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Fry the onion in the remaining oil until soft, about 8 mins. Add the garlic and cook for another min or 2. Stir in the coriander, chopped tomatoes, molasses and some seasoning. Simmer for 15 mins until you have a thick, rich sauce. Stir in the mint leaves.
Heat a drizzle more oil in a pan and fry the halloumi slices for 2 mins on each side until golden brown. Set aside with the aubergine. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
Roll out the pastry to a rectangle, 50 x 25cm, and cut into two squares (don’t worry about all the edges being neat at this stage). Place one on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Layer the tomato sauce, aubergine, halloumi and a scattering of pine nuts (in that order) onto the middle of the pastry, leaving a border around the edge, about 1.5cm. Keep layering until the ingredients have all been used up. Brush the edges with a little egg.
Roll the second sheet a little larger, then lift over the pie and press down the edges to seal. Neaten the edges with a knife, then brush the whole pie with more egg. Score fine lines over the top with your knife to decorate, making sure you don’t pierce the pastry. Cut a small cross in the centre of the pie and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 30-35 mins until golden brown.