This is almost exactly how my mother made one of her sugary fruit pies. You will need a loose-bottomed 20cm tart tin and a flat baking sheet, which should be placed in the oven at the outset.
Serves 4
butter 40g, fridge cold
ready‑rolled all-butter puff pastry 1 x 320g packet
gooseberries 600g, topped and tailed
caster sugar 5 tbsp, plus a little extra for the pastry crust
cornflour 1 tbsp
cloves 6, buds pinched off from the stalk, then crumbled
egg 1, beaten
Heat the oven to 170C fan/gas mark 5. Lightly grease the tart tin with the butter. Roll out two-thirds of the pastry until wide enough to line the tin, as well as allowing a slight excess to flop over the rim.
Put in the fridge and chill for at least 20 minutes. Meanwhile, roll out the remaining third of the pastry to make a lid for the pie and chill this too.
Mix the gooseberries, sugar, cornflour and clove buds in a roomy bowl until all are well coated and sticky (a sturdy spatula is best for doing this). Remove the pastry-lined tin from the fridge and fill with the gooseberry mixture, then brush a little beaten egg around the excess edge of the pastry. Now remove the pastry lid from the fridge, flop it over the fruit and neatly press the pastry edges together.
Brush the pie with beaten egg, then firmly indent the rim with the tines of a fork to both secure a seal and to pretty the thing. Note: any decoration attended upon pastry to be baked will only reveal itself post a wash of beaten egg.
Generously and evenly dredge the pie with caster sugar, make 3-4 incisions in the centre of the pastry lid to allow steam to escape, then slide the pie on to the baking sheet and bake for about 45-50 minutes, or until the pastry sports a deep golden shine and has an agreeably crisp surface. (If you feel that the pastry is browning too rapidly towards the end of the cooking time, loosely cover with a sheet of foil.)
Remove from the oven and leave in the tin until lukewarm before removing. Serve with thick, cold double cream.
Simon Hopkinson is a food writer
