WHISK — Cookbooks at VOLUME

I never imagined that I would be a great fan of pies, but Julia Busuttil Nishimura’s pastry is perfect every time (ditto her focaccia bread recipes) — just the right proportions and clear instructions for getting the right texture for your dough. In Ostro, the Leek and Potato Pie is now a regular dish (and it doesn’t matter what cheese you have — I have used cheddar, feta, a combo of parmesan, and others, and it’s always delicious and well-received). This photo essay features a recipe from her second book, A Year of Simple Family Food.

The pumpkin pie is surprisingly light — with a flakey buttery pastry —  and tasty (herbs and spices, as well as filling). And it looks excellent — that wonderful orange glow. Simple and budget-conscious ingredients. For this version, I reduced the butter content without losing any integrity in the pastry (it fluffed up beautifully as it cooked) and used walnuts in place of pinenuts. The earthy flavour of these nuts was a perfect accompaniment to the pumpkin. The garden hasn’t delivered the free-sprouting mint yet, so the herb choice for last night was oregano — a gift of a very large sprig that just keeps giving — which has added aromatic depth to our winter dishes this year. Not sure whether you want to make a pie from scratch? We highly recommend Julia Busuttil Nishimura’s cookbooks. Her recipes have revolutionised our savoury pastry making.