Olivia Moore: There’s nothing more festive than a Christmas tree pie

Christmas tree pie with romesco, chorizo and cream cheese. Photo / Olivia Moore, That Green Olive

For the past few years, a pastry tree has made its way onto the table at some point during the festive season (sometimes multiple times).

It’s almost like a craft with the cutting and twisting of pastry, and immediately puts you in a festive mood. You can make this as a dessert by filling it with berries and chocolate, or as a savoury pie with pesto and cheese.

I’ve opted for smokey, punchy romesco sauce (a favourite in our house), with chorizo and cream cheese.

Romesco makes use of summer capsicums and tomatoes - perfect for a Kiwi Christmas! You’ll definitely want to make this sauce again.

It’s traditionally paired with seafood (you’ve probably seen it paired with octopus on many restaurant menus!), but it’s incredibly versatile - serve it with eggs, spread it in sandwiches or dollop it on the side of your dinner plate.

Get your kids involved with making this; I’m sure they’ll enjoy arranging the fillings and twisting the pastry branches!

Christmas Tree Pie with romesco, chorizo and cream cheese

Serves 4-6

ROMESCO

● 350g capsicums (about two large or three small), tops removed

● 250g fresh tomatoes

● 50g stale sourdough (toast to dry out)

● ¼ cup roasted almonds

● 2 large cloves of garlic

● 1 Tbsp smoked paprika

● ¼ tsp ground chilli

● 1 tsp salt

● 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

PIE

● 400g puff pastry dough

● 150g chorizo, crumbled into roughly two-centimetre pieces

● 2-3 Tbsp cream cheese

● 2 Tbsp finely-chopped parsley

Method

1. Preheat oven to 250C.

2. Place tomatoes and capsicums on a baking tray. Drizzle with oil and roast for 40 minutes, turning occasionally, until tomatoes are blistered and capsicums are charred. Reduce heat to 180C.

3. Transfer tomatoes and capsicums to a heatproof bowl, and cover with a plate or pan lid to steam for 10 minutes; this makes removing the skins easier. Remove lid and when cool enough to handle, peel off the skins and remove seeds and membranes from capsicums.

4. Place peeled capsicums and tomatoes into a food processor, along with the sourdough, almonds, garlic, paprika, chili and salt. Blend until smooth. Add red wine vinegar and blitz to combine.

5. To cook the chorizo, heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Add crumbled chorizo and cook for five to 10 minutes, until nicely browned all over.

6. Divide the pastry dough in two. Between two large sheets of baking paper, roll one portion out to a triangle roughly 40cm at its longest point and 25cm at its widest; you will need to mould and fold the dough as you go to make a triangle. Repeat with remaining dough portion. Place one on top of the other and run a knife around the edge to create a uniform triangle and tree stump. Remove the top layer and set aside.

7. Gather any leftover dough into a ball, roll out and stamp a star shape for the top (and any other shapes you wish to make).

8. Spread roughly ½ cup romesco onto one dough triangle, leaving a 2cm border around the edges. Scatter around the chorizo pieces and dot over cream cheese (don’t place too close to the edges as this will make it hard to twist). Scatter over parsley and place over remaining pastry triangle.

9. Starting about one inch from the top, cut horizontal slits on each side, 2cm apart going down, leaving a 3-4cm gap down the middle. Gently twist each strip.

10. Brush the pastry tree and star with oil and bake for 30 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. You may need to remove the star earlier if it browns too quickly.

11. To assemble, brush a little romesco onto the bottom of the star and place at the top of the tree. Serve hot.