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.

We used to buy it in London at the farmer’s market in Chelsea.

When we were living in London, we would go there 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.

The process is long as I caramelize both sweet potatoes and onions separately.

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.

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

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.

If you want to know what other tools I use for my baking, you can visit the page:

My Baking Tools And Utensils

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5 from 9 votes

Chelsea Market Heidi Pie

This is not their original recipe, but my interpretation of the UK Pieminister Heidi Pie using the same ingredients. Since I am usually making those pies for our picnics, I make 4 small pies but it can also be done in a standard pie tin. #yourguardianchef #pierecipes #vegetarianrecipes

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time1 hr 20 mins

Total Time1 hr 35 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: British

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 718kcal

Ingredients

For the caramelized sweet potatoes

• 2 sweet potatoes
• 1 tsbp Provencal herbs
• 1 clove garlic peeled and chushed
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil

For the caramelized onion

• 2 red onions
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 7 oz spinach i use frozen
• 5 oz French chevre

The rest of the filling

• 4 slices round bacon There was no bacon in the original Heidi Pie, so it is optional
• 2 eggs

Short pastry (double the size of the pastry for a large pie)

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tsp salt

US Customary – Metric

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Instructions

Caramelize the sweet potatoes

• Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into cubes
  
• 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.
  
• Bake in a hot oven at 200 C for 40 minutes, turning them halfway through the cooking
  

Caramelize the onion

• In the meantime caramelize the onions, cut them into slices and stir-fry with butter
  
• Once they become translucent, add the sugar and 1/4 cup of water, lower the temperature and let them simmer for 20 minutes
  
• Add the spinach and finish cooking
  

Short pastry

• Mix all ingredients in the mixer.
  
• Wrap the dough with cling foil and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes so the butter re-solidifies.
  
• 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
  
• With a fork pierce the dough in the bottom and on the side so no air gets trapped while cooking.
• 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.
• Put tins layered with the pastry and the pastry tops back in the fridge for another 30 minutes

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.
• Mix together the caramelized sweet potatoes, the onion, the spinach and the chevre broken into pieces. Put aside 4 small slices of chevre 
  
• Fill the pie halfway
  
• Add a slice of bacon (optional) and the slice of chevre you have put aside previously
  
• Cover with the remaining filling
  
• Cover with the top pastry, seal the sides and make few hole on the top to let the steam out while cooking
  
• Bake the pies in the oven at 180 C for 30 minutes
  
• Let them rest for 10 minutes before removing them from the tins
  

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Chelsea Market Heidi Pie

Amount Per Serving

Calories 718 Calories from Fat 378

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 42g 65%

Saturated Fat 23g 115%

Cholesterol 221mg 74%

Sodium 1904mg 79%

Potassium 779mg 22%

Total Carbohydrates 59g 20%

Dietary Fiber 5g 20%

Sugars 8g

Protein 24g 48%

Vitamin A 304.3%

Vitamin C 24%

Calcium 16.8%

Iron 32.1%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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