Jewelled with tangy cranberries and topped with flaky pastry stars, this pie could easily be a festive centrepiece. It’s equally good on a blustery autumn day! Get ahead by roasting the veg in advance, and making the pastry, then it can be quickly assembled and baked. Try swapping the squash for other roast veggies like sweet potato, carrots, or a mix of these. You can also use a jar of ready-roasted/grilled peppers.

You could make this recipe gluten-free by baking the filling into a scooped out squash/courgette, and using cooked rice instead of couscous.

Serves 4

Ingredients: Pastry – 200g plain flour; 100g plant butter. Filling: 1 butternut squash; 2 red/yellow peppers; 2 red onions; 4 garlic cloves; big glug of olive oil; 1 tin of chickpeas; 60g couscous; 60g cranberries; a big handful of fresh mint, parsley and rosemary (chopped finely); 1 tsp ground cumin; 1 tsp ground coriander; ½ tsp ground ginger; pinch of cinnamon; 1 tsp salt; a good grind of pepper.

Make the pastry by rubbing the cold butter into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add cold water, a little at a time, bringing the mixture together with a knife until it forms a ball of dough. Wrap with something air-tight and place in the fridge for about 30 mins. You can leave the pastry for longer, e.g. overnight.

Next, roast the veg. Peel the squash and cut in half, then take out the seeds, and chop the rest roughly into bitesize chunks. Peel the onion and chop into wedges. De-seed the peppers and chop roughly. Add to a large roasting tray, with the garlic cloves (unpeeled) and the olive oil. Roast at 180°C for 30 mins, tossing halfway through.

Transfer the roast veg to a large bowl, squeezing the garlic from their papery cases. Add the remaining ingredients and give it a good mix together with your hands, squeezing to combine everything well.

Grease and line a tart tin/pie dish with baking paper. Roll the pastry out to a thickness of a pound coin, and carefully push it down into the tin. Make sure you’ve saved some to cut out a few star shapes (or other shapes as you like)! Spoon in the filling, and press it down with a spoon. Top with your stars and bake at 180°C for 30-40 mins, until the pastry is golden and flaky. Enjoy!