The leaning tower of pies

It's a funny story really. A little while ago I had a bag of mushrooms to use up so decided to make some of my lentil & mushroom pies for freezing. Everything went well until I got a bit impatient when I was trying to freeze them. I put them in a container all stacked on top of each other while they were still warm. This must have created some kind of unbreakable bond, because now, whenever I try to get a pie out of the freezer for dinner, I can only get 3. The pies in the photo below have actually been defrosted & heated in the oven & still wouldn't come apart!So, D & I have had to resign ourselves to eating 3 at a time. Obviously, we save them for those times when we are starving - lucky they're not full-sized pies. The important part in all of this is the pie itself. This is my basic recipe. I've tried Carla's and Cindy's pies this year, both of which I loved, but this is my own quick and easy favourite recipe. It relies mostly on frozen & canned food so I pretty much always have the ingredients on hand.

Lentil, Mushroom & Pea Pies

• 1-1 1/2 cups mushrooms, finely diced
  
• 1 can brown lentils, rinsed & drained
  
• 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
  
• 1 can diced tomatoes
  
• Salt & Pepper to taste
  
• 4 sheets puffy pastry, thawed

Heat a little olive oil over medium heat in a frypan. Add the mushrooms & cook a few minutes, until just starting to shrink. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan & cook, stirring occasionally, about 10-15mins, until the mix has thickened.

I use my pie-maker for these, so at this stage, just cut out your pastry & fit it to whatever pie-making device you are going to use. Add some filling, pop a pastry lid on it & bake for as long as it takes for the pastry to turn golden brown (if baking in the oven, just use a moderate heat - it will probably take around 15mins).Here's a pretty terrible shot of the filling. These are definitely best enjoyed with some good old tomato sauce.