Autumn Empanada

Many countries produce a savoury item of food which consists of a filling encased in pastry of some sort. Cornish pasties, samosas and empanadas are but a few.
I took the Spanish empanada as my inspiration in creating this dish. It's a vegetarian mix of vegetables and cheese and well worth making, even if you stop at the filling stage and serve it up as the best mashed potato ever, especially if you find getting young ones to eat vegetables a challenge. go on to put it in pastry and you have a convenient picnic food and I would suggest small rectangles served warm even make a good canapé.
On my way back from feeding the chickens this morning (they've given up laying but they still seem to want to eat) I picked a few things from the garden, today it was Jerusalem artichokes, chard, potatoes, tomatoes, onions and sage. Here is what I came up with.

For this recipe you will need;
Roughly 1,200g of vegetables, predominantly potatoes, today I used
2 small onions, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, grated
200g of fresh tomatoes, chopped
Chard leaves
300g of Jerusalem artichokes
750g of potatoes
3 or 4 sage leaves
1 tablespoon of rapeseed oil
1 teaspoon of Marigold Bouillon powder or 1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
A good pinch of cayenne

150g of good cheddar cheese grated.
250g of shortcrust pastry.

Begin by sweating the onion and garlic in the oil on a low heat in an oven proof pot that has a lid. After 2 or 3 minutes add the remaining vegetables and cook down until the tomatoes have released their liquid, about 7 to 10 minutes. Put on the lid and place in a moderate 160C oven for 45 minutes. Remove the lid and return to the oven until the liquid has all but dried out. It is important that the filling is not too wet, so time and care should be taken to dry the vegetables out.
Mash the cooked vegetables together with the seasoning and the cheese and allow to cool completely.

Roll out the pastry to form a rectangle roughly 20cm by 50cm. Carefully drape one half of the pastry into the baking tin, I use one that conveniently measure 18cm by 25cm, leaving the other half of the pastry ready to fold over to form the lid. Place the cooled filling onto the base and fold over the lid. Crimp around the edges and brush with either a little cream or an egg yolk if you fancy. I created a diamond pattern on mine but you really don't have to.
Bake at 180C for 45 to 50 minutes.
Serve warm.

Notes:
Obviously the ingredients of the filling can vary hugely for this recipe, if you grow your own vegetables or order in a veg box, simply use what is at hand. I like to make it mostly potato but that is entirely my preference, I find it holds together very well, especially when cut and served cold at a picnic. The secret to this simple list of ingredients transforming into a surprisingly delicious filling is the intensifying of flavours that happens when you cook them together in a sealed container in the oven.