Yesterday Anchal had the amazing opportunity to cook with Maria Elia at Leith’s School of Food and Wine in west London. Maria Elia is a fantastic chef who has previously worked at Delfina, the Whitechapel Gallery and Joe’s, and has updated/put her own twist on Greek favourites, in her latest book Smashing Plates. She is also incredibly personable and supportive – a great teacher.

One of the dishes Anchal learned to make was straight out of her book – the pumpkin “snail” pie. As Maria explains, no snails are involved (!) – the name comes from the shape of her pie that is twisted into a “snail” shape. In fact, the pie (and most of her dishes Anchal made yesterday) is vegetarian so you can feel positively virtuous when you eat this. The pie incorporates pumpkin or butternut squash, spices, chickpeas, almonds, raisins (you can pick them out!), coriander and filo pastry – very Mediterranean, which is right up our street!

You can try it for yourself using her recipe here!

So what do you think? Feel free to share your questions and comments below! We’d love to hear what you have to say.