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March 6, 2012

Vegetable Pot Pie

The most recent (March 2012) issue of Everyday Food magazine came out a couple of weeks ago. It had the most delicious looking Pot Pie recipes. I've always liked pot pies ... even the ones that you pop in the microwave for 5 minutes. There's something so comforting about them. I tried a vegetarian version, with tofu for added protein and it actually came out really really good. We made individual pies for everyone and I added grilled chicken for all the boys so that they all got the taste they like. 

Vegetable Pot Pie (Single-Serve)
Prep Time: 30-40 min

Ingredients:
  1. 1 large (1 lb) pack of mixed vegetables. 
  2. 1 pack Firm Tofu (or grilled chicken) diced. 
  3. 1 cup vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
  4. 1-2 tsp minced garlic
  5. 2-3 tbsp whole wheat flour
  6. 1 tbsp dried parsley
  7. 1-2 tbsp Nutritional Yeast
  8. salt and pepper to taste
  9. 1 pack (2 sheets) Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust*

Directions

Pot pie filling!!
Remove pie crust from the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes while preparing the filling. In a deep sauce pot, bring half the vegetable broth to boil. Add garlic, salt and parsley and boil for a few minutes. Then add vegetables, mix, and allow to cook for a few minutes. I used a very traditional mix of vegetables (corn, green beans, carrots and peas) as I have to feed picky teenagers at home. Other vegetable that I think would hold up really well in a pot pie like this would be asparagus spears, cauliflower florets, broccoli florets, and small button mushrooms. 

Once the vegetables look about done, mix flour in remaining vegetable broth (at room temperature) and slowly add this mixture, one spoonful at a time to the vegetable/broth mixture; make sure that you mix/swirl the flour slowly with each addition to avoid lumps of dough from forming. The end result should look like the vegetables are floating in a thin gravy. Add more broth, and/or flour, as needed until the desired consistency is achieved.  Add nutritional yeast, mix well. 

Individual Pie-Crusts
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375F. If making individual pot pies, add tofu (or chicken) to the bottom of each bowl and using a ladle, scoop out a nice big helping of vegetables on top. If making a large family size pot pie, its best to mix in the tofu/chicken before ladling out the filling into the casserole dish. On a flour dusted counter top, or butcher block, roll out the pie crust to the size of the casserole dish, transfer and crimp the edges. For individual pot pies, I find it easier to cut circles of crust that are just slightly smaller than the individual bowls, and simply drop the crust on top of each serving. Don't forget to make air-cuts to allow steam to escape. 

Bake uncovered at 375F, for about 15-20 minutes until the pie-crust is nice and golden and the filling starts to bubble around the edges. Let stand for a few minutes before serving as each pie will be scalding hot. 

Overall Assessment: A hit with the whole family!! 

*I've called this recipe 'No-added-Fat' but it does have butter from the store-bought pie crust. 

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