Vegan Christmas - preparing in advance - pies!

[suggestionsplease1]

Hi, looking for some advice!

My brother-in-law is vegan and I decided yesterday to get ahead of the game and prepare some pie fillings for him when he stays over. I made a potato, rosemary and onion filling, and a sweet potato, herb and spinach filling. These have been in fridge overnight and I plan to freeze them now.

My plan was to defrost these at the time and then use puff pastry / filo pastry to make into pies and bake. Do you think they will defrost ok for this purpose? Do I need to heat the fillings again on the hob before putting them in the oven with the pastry? Will the pastry go funny if I don't? And do I need to blind bake filo pastry that the filling will sit on?

Any tips for successfully freezing and defrosting stuff like this?

I'm a bit concerned it won't work out quite as I planned!

1. Yes they'll defrost fine, as long as you give them enough time to defrost completely before you assemble the pies

2. You don't need to reheat them, but I'd probably have them at room temp rather than fridge cold when assembling

3. No need to blind bake filo, I'd bake them each in a springform cake tin, and follow the assembly photos here: scrummylane.com/greek-spinach-and-feta-filo-pie/

Use loads of lovely butter or olive oil on each sheet as you layer it You can sprinkle the top with poppyseeds or sesame seeds to make it look a bit special when it comes out of the oven.

If you decide to use puff pastry instead I'd put one layer of puff pastry down on a baking sheet on top of baking paper, filling spread on top, drape another (larger) layer of puff on top, use a fork to seal edges together, brush with egg and use the tip a sharp knife to score a pretty design on top (like on a galette des rois) without cutting through the pastry completely. So no need to blind bake anything.

I'd pie them now and freeze the whole thing then cook from frozen.

I never blind bake (like my Mum) but do use a form and make lots of small holes on the bottom layer before adding the filling. The bottom is always crispy and never shrinks.