Snow Day Pot Pie
I am conflicted. It is the eve of Spring, but we have a snow day, with pretty much a blizzard coming down. But alas, a SNOW DAY, where I can putter around the house, get some things done, and cook.
N is working today, so to make up for the guilt of being home, I decided to make a hearty evening meal. Lo and behold, there was a package of pie crusts in the freezer, so pot pie it is. I don't have the car, so the challenge was to make it using whatever was in the cupboards.
I like a lot of hearty vegetables, plus some sort of "meat" substitute, whether it be seitan or tofu, or even cooked beans would work. I cook the "meat" on its own, to add a lot of flavor to it, and so the veggies can have a little alone time. I like flavors to meld, but you also want them to be able to stand on their own, I think.
Here is how I made it
Ingredients:
Pie crust, thawed
Butter or oil
Veggies, enough to fill up the dish you are using about 1/2 of the way
Seitan, extra firm tofu or beans
Cheese
Gravy/flavorful stock/wine, that kind of thing
Preheat the oven to 375. Butter or spray a casserole or deep baking dish.
In a skillet, cook up an onion in some butter or oil. When onions start to brown, add in some veggie stock and/or wine. Keep simmering the onions. Add in some garlic in big chunks. What we are doing here is adding flavor. You want your pot pie to be nice and rich and full of flavor. Reducing stock, wine and onions will accomplish this...at least I think it does. Add spices if you want. After about 10 minutes, add in your tofu or seitan chunks. Turn down the heat and let it all simmer for 10-15 minutes, then turn off the heat. If you use gravy instead, just thin it out, or else it will be way too thick to simmer and reduce.
Meanwhile, cut up your veggies into small, bite sized pieces. I love big chunks of things, but when you eat pot pie, you want a whole bunch of different things on your fork, not just one giant piece of potato. So, bite size. For my pot pie, I used two large potatoes, one and a half carrots, two red peppers and a half bag of freezer burned peas. See, what I had on hand!!
In a big pot, heat some oil on medium heat, add another chopped onion, and let the onion get soft. Add in all the "hard" veggies, like the carrots and potato. Let this cook a bit, and sprinkle in a little salt to get rid of some excess moisture. Put in some spices if you'd like. I added in some pepper and hot pepper flakes. When the veggies are cooked a bit, add in the soft veggies, such as sweet peppers. (Don't add any frozen veggies until the end, since they are already partially cooked.) Add another healthy glug or two of wine. Put the top on the pot and let it all cook for a few minutes, until the veggies are al dente. Stir in any frozen veggies.
Go back to your seitan, and thicken up the sauce a bit by dissolving a little cornstarch in cold water, and then pouring it into the mixture and stirring. It won't thicken up now, but it will once it cooks in the oven. If you don't like the cornstarch thing, then you could do a rue, but this is the lazy way.
Pour the veggies into the casserole dish, then pour in seitan/sauce mixture and stir gently. If there doesn't seem to be enough sauce, add a bit more stock or liquid.
At the last minute, I decided to use up a small hunk of cheese by grating it on top of the veggie mixture. I didn't stir it in because I wanted it to kind of stick to the pie crust on top.
Place your pie crust on top of the whole sha-bang, cutting off any excess crust hanging over. I put the extra crust right on top of the other crust, and stuffed some in my mouth, and gave a tiny piece to the dog. Poke a few holes in the crust for the heat and gravy to bubble through. Cover with foil, and bake 20 minutes. Turn the dish 180 degrees and bake another 20 minutes. Then take off the foil, give it a quarter turn, and bake another 15 minutes or until the pie crust is nice and dark and the gravy is bubbling. Let cool for a few minutes, then serve in a bowl, maybe with a slice of cheddar.
Oh YUM!
N is working today, so to make up for the guilt of being home, I decided to make a hearty evening meal. Lo and behold, there was a package of pie crusts in the freezer, so pot pie it is. I don't have the car, so the challenge was to make it using whatever was in the cupboards.
I like a lot of hearty vegetables, plus some sort of "meat" substitute, whether it be seitan or tofu, or even cooked beans would work. I cook the "meat" on its own, to add a lot of flavor to it, and so the veggies can have a little alone time. I like flavors to meld, but you also want them to be able to stand on their own, I think.
Here is how I made it
Ingredients:
Pie crust, thawed
Butter or oil
Veggies, enough to fill up the dish you are using about 1/2 of the way
Seitan, extra firm tofu or beans
Cheese
Gravy/flavorful stock/wine, that kind of thing
Preheat the oven to 375. Butter or spray a casserole or deep baking dish.
In a skillet, cook up an onion in some butter or oil. When onions start to brown, add in some veggie stock and/or wine. Keep simmering the onions. Add in some garlic in big chunks. What we are doing here is adding flavor. You want your pot pie to be nice and rich and full of flavor. Reducing stock, wine and onions will accomplish this...at least I think it does. Add spices if you want. After about 10 minutes, add in your tofu or seitan chunks. Turn down the heat and let it all simmer for 10-15 minutes, then turn off the heat. If you use gravy instead, just thin it out, or else it will be way too thick to simmer and reduce.
Meanwhile, cut up your veggies into small, bite sized pieces. I love big chunks of things, but when you eat pot pie, you want a whole bunch of different things on your fork, not just one giant piece of potato. So, bite size. For my pot pie, I used two large potatoes, one and a half carrots, two red peppers and a half bag of freezer burned peas. See, what I had on hand!!
In a big pot, heat some oil on medium heat, add another chopped onion, and let the onion get soft. Add in all the "hard" veggies, like the carrots and potato. Let this cook a bit, and sprinkle in a little salt to get rid of some excess moisture. Put in some spices if you'd like. I added in some pepper and hot pepper flakes. When the veggies are cooked a bit, add in the soft veggies, such as sweet peppers. (Don't add any frozen veggies until the end, since they are already partially cooked.) Add another healthy glug or two of wine. Put the top on the pot and let it all cook for a few minutes, until the veggies are al dente. Stir in any frozen veggies.
Go back to your seitan, and thicken up the sauce a bit by dissolving a little cornstarch in cold water, and then pouring it into the mixture and stirring. It won't thicken up now, but it will once it cooks in the oven. If you don't like the cornstarch thing, then you could do a rue, but this is the lazy way.
Pour the veggies into the casserole dish, then pour in seitan/sauce mixture and stir gently. If there doesn't seem to be enough sauce, add a bit more stock or liquid.
At the last minute, I decided to use up a small hunk of cheese by grating it on top of the veggie mixture. I didn't stir it in because I wanted it to kind of stick to the pie crust on top.
Place your pie crust on top of the whole sha-bang, cutting off any excess crust hanging over. I put the extra crust right on top of the other crust, and stuffed some in my mouth, and gave a tiny piece to the dog. Poke a few holes in the crust for the heat and gravy to bubble through. Cover with foil, and bake 20 minutes. Turn the dish 180 degrees and bake another 20 minutes. Then take off the foil, give it a quarter turn, and bake another 15 minutes or until the pie crust is nice and dark and the gravy is bubbling. Let cool for a few minutes, then serve in a bowl, maybe with a slice of cheddar.
Oh YUM!