Our bottled beers are suitable for vegans and vegetarians. These vegetarian pot pies are packed with delicious healthy mushrooms, herbs and olives, flavours which combine beautifully with Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout.

Imperial Stout is a distinctive type of beer was originally brewed to withstand the abuses of shipping in foul weather to Imperial Russia. It was a favourite of Russian nobility whose taste for the finest food and drink was world famous. A rich flavourful brew; deep chocolate in colour with a roasted barley nose and flavour that is a complexity of malt, hops, alcohol and yeast. Fermented in ‘stone Yorkshire squares’.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp rapeseed oil + extra for greasing, divided

• 2 shallots, finely diced

• 1 leek (white part only), chopped

• 5 sprigs of thyme, leaves removed + extra for garnish

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced

• 1 tbsp tomato paste

• 900g / 2 lbs mixed mushrooms, trimmed and sliced into 2.5cm pieces

• 3 tbsp spelt OR wholewheat flour

• 1 cup Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout

• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

• 1 tbsp soy sauce

• 1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped

• 5 sprigs of parsley, leaves removed + chopped

• 1-2 small sweet potatoes, washed and very thinly sliced

• salt and pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C /375F / Gas 5. Grease 4-6 200ml ramekins with rapeseed oil and set on a baking sheet.
2. Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large, heavy saucepan over a medium heat. Add the shallots. Saute for 2-3 minutes or until translucent.
3. Add the leeks and all but a 1/2 tsp of the thyme to the pan and saute for another 2 minutes. Add the minced garlic and tomato paste to the pan. Saute until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds.
4. Add the chopped mushrooms to the pan all at once. Cook the mushrooms until tender and glistening, about 8-10 minutes, stirring often and add a bit of liquid or extra oil if necessary.
5. Sprinkle the flour over top of the mushrooms. Stir and cook out the raw flavour of the flour for about a minute.
6. Pour the stout into the pot, scraping up any brown bits at the bottom of the pan. Add the balsamic vinegar and soy sauce. Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes, or until the liquid is slightly reduced. Remove from the heat and then stir in the olives and chopped parsley. Season the mixture to taste.
7. Divide the mushroom mixture between the ramekins. Layer the sweet potato slices on top, overlapping the circles as you go. There should be 2 solid layers of sweet potatoes on top of the mushrooms. Brush the top of the sweet potato slices with the remaining oil, season the slices with salt, pepper and the remaining chopped thyme. Bake the pot pies for 30-35 minutes, or until the mushroom mixture is bubbling and the sweet potatoes are browned and lightly crispy at the edges. Serve piping hot with green vegetables.