Comfrey and Fat Hen Pie

The smell of comfrey tea, a fantastic homemade fertiliser of plants, stewing in the water butt has always put me off eating comfrey myself. Until now.

The comfrey in the garden has grown ridiculously fast, and with the high winds this week, much has blown over forcing me to cut the first lot to make comfrey tea. So I took the opportunity to pick some of the best leaves for myself - with trepidation.

I started by blind baking a pie case that would end up a bit crunchy on the outside (I preferred it to a a very short pastry crust). The comfrey and fat hen were boiled for about 3 minutes - and actually smelled fantastic which I was not expecting! I then chopped them up and added them to a bechamel sauce to which I had added two egg yolks and some cottage cheese. This was all mixed up and put into the pastry crust, topped with some panko breadcrumbs and baked for 20-30 minutes.

I did not expect this to taste as good as it did, but I'm delighted to have found another leaf in the garden that can be used in place of spinach. Comfrey puts down incredibly long roots and is able to bring a lot of nutrients back to the surface - why its used to make liquid fertiliser for plants.  Fat Hen was traditionally used in cooking until mass-produced spinach replaced it. Hens also love it hence the name (and its effect on them apparently).

Recipe inspired by Rosamund Richardson's recipes for Fat Hen and Comfrey.