Chelsea Market Heidi Pie With French Chevre

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The Heidi Pie is made of a crunchy short pastry filled with sweet potatoes, spinach, red onion and goat’s cheese. Perfect for as Easter Monday picnic, you can serve it with a salad.

Jump to:

• What is a Heidi Pie
• When to make the Heidi Pies
• Making the short pastry
• Caramelize the sweet potatoes
• Caramelize the onions
• Composing the pies
• Tips for making the best Heidi pies
• More Pie Ideas
• Chelsea Market Heidi Pie
• Tips for making the best Heidi pies

What is a Heidi Pie

Heidi Pie was our picnic Saturday special we used to buy it in London at the farmer’s market in Chelsea. When we were living in London, we would go to Chelsea Farmer Market on a Saturday morning, buy enough food for a picnic and go for a walk in Chelsea or Battersea Park.

The Chelsea market is a small market in Duke of York Square and it is open only on Saturdays. It is not a typical French or Italian market with only fruits, vegetables and cheese. It has stalls full of freshly prepared food ready to eat: salads, dips, fresh bread, pies, fruits, cupcakes and chocolate.

Pieminister stall had a collection of pies with funny names and you wanted to try them all: Mexicow (beef and chili), Moo (beef and craft ale), Matador (beef and chorizo), Deer Stalker (venison and red wine)….and many more. I tried most of them, and they were all very good, but my favourite always remained the Heidi Pie.

This is not their original Heidi Pie recipe, but my interpretation using the same ingredients.

And since we are now living in France:

“the country of origin for goat cheese ‘par excellence’ ” The Original Chevre

….. I make this pie very often especially if we are going for picnics.

When to make the Heidi Pies

I am usually making those Heidi Pies for our picnics, therefore I make 4 small pies, using 4 mini cake tins with a loose base.

They are easy to carry and I pack them directly into 1 portion container with a salad on the side.

If you don’t have the mini cake tins, you can still make a large standard size pie (24 cm / 9.5 inches diameter).In this case, you can double the amount of the short pastry so you can make a thicker crust.

The process is long as I caramelize both sweet potatoes and onions separately. Best to plan a day ahead.

Before composing the pie all the ingredients should be at room temperature, so they can be prepared the day before and the Heidi Pies baked the next day.

Making the short pastry

• 1 1/2 cup – 200 gr of flour
• 1/2 cup – 100 gr of butter at room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1 pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp of water

1. Mix all ingredients in the mixer.
2. Wrap the dough with cling foil and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes so the butter re-solidifies.
3. Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces, then cut 1/3 from each piece and roll the remaining to cover the bottom of the buttered tins
4. With a fork pierce the dough in the bottom and on the side so no air gets trapped while cooking.
5. With the remaining 4 of the 1/3 dough you have separated earlier, create 4 circles the same size as the pie that you will use as covers.
6. Put tins layered with the pastry and the pastry tops back in the fridge for another 30 minutes

Caramelize the sweet potatoes

For 4 small pies, I use 2 sweet potatoes

1. Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into cubes
2. Spread the sweet potatoes on a baking tray covered with a parchment paper.  Season with salt and olive oil, the Provencal herbs and a crushed garlic clove.
3. Bake in a hot oven at 390 F – 200 C for 40 minutes, turning them halfway through the cooking

Caramelize the onions

For the 4 pies, I use 2 large red onions, 1 tbsp of butter, 1 tbsp of sugar and 1 pinch of salt and 7 oz – 200 gr of frozen spinach

1. To caramelize the onions, cut them into slices and stir-fry with butter
2. Once they become translucent, add the sugar and 1/4 cup of water, lower the temperature and let them simmer for 20 minutes
3. Once the onions are caramelized, add the spinach and finish cooking

Composing the pies

All ingredients should be at room temperature and the pastry nice and cold. You can prepare everything the day before and let them rest overnight.

1. Mix together the caramelized sweet potatoes, the onion, the spinach, the eggs and the chevre broken into pieces. Put aside 4 small slices of chevre
2. Fill the pie halfway
3. Add a slice of bacon (optional) and the slice of chevre you have put aside previously
4. Cover with the remaining filling
5. Cover with the top pastry, seal the sides and make few holes on the top to let the steam out while cooking
6. Bake the pies in the oven at 350 F – 180 C for 30 minutes

Let them rest for 10 minutes before removing them from the tins

Tips for making the best Heidi pies

• If you are making the pie for a vegetarian party you can opt out the bacon, but it does add flavour
• Make sure all ingredients are cold before you put them in the oven
• If you want a lighter version do not add the chevre slice in the middle
• Heidi pie can be made in a large tin ( 9 1/2 in – 24 cm) but you will have to double the quantity of the short pastry
• They are at their best for an Easter Monday picnic

More Pie Ideas

• Beef Pie With Marsala Sauce And Mushrooms
• Chicken and Mushroom Pie Recipe
• Zucchini Mushroom Quiche Recipe
• Caramelized Squash Spinach Bacon Quiche
• Beef Sausage Hand Pie Recipe

If you are making these Heidi Pies, leave your comment below I would like to hear from you. You can find more delicious ideas if you FOLLOW ME on Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram or sign up to my newsletter.