Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Cheezy roast vegetable pot pies


Last year I went on a pot pie bender after purchasing some ramekins and posted about my experiments a couple of times. The arrival of the New Year prompted me to sort through my draft posts and I was astounded to find that I had never published the recipe for the pot pies that ended up being the household favourite. As it had been such a long time since we last indulged in these pies, I decided to make them again and take some shots of the process.


The concept came from the roast vegetable pie recipe on easy as vegan pie where Carla combined some roasted vegetables with a cheezy sauce from Veganomicon. I turned this into pot pies and we loved them like this for quite some time. When I purchased Appetite for Reduction, we all adored the Easy Breezy Cheezy sauce in another recipe so I had to put it to the test in these roast vegetable pot pies.


The man and son were purposely kept in the dark about the change in sauce and I was thrilled that they could notice the difference and proclaimed them to the best pot pies. I can quite happily eat one of these pies without any condiments but the man always add some ketchup on top and the son prefers his with BBQ sauce.


Extra roasted, steamed or stir-fried vegetables are usually what accompanies these pot pies in the colder winter months. This time I served them with a side salad and garlic bread as I am currently enjoying a supply of sweet and juicy home-grown cherry tomatoes from my garden.
  

Cheezy roast veg pot pies (sauce adapted from Appetite for Reduction)

olive oil spray
1/2 head cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 small head broccoli, cut into small florets
1 medium sweet potato, chopped into 2cm pieces
3/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 cup plain flour
2 teaspoons dried garlic flakes
2 teaspoons dried onion flakes
2 teaspoons Massel vegetable stock powder
2 teaspoons Massel chicken stock powder
2 cups water
1 teaspoon American mustard
75g baby spinach leaves, chopped
1 sheet Borg's puff pastry, defrosted
soy milk, for brushing the pastry
sesame seeds, for topping

Preheat oven to 200C. Spread the chopped cauliflower, broccoli and sweet potato in a single layer on a large roasting tray lined with baking paper. Spray with olive oil and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the sweet potato is soft and the cauliflower and broccoli is slightly charred. Leave the oven set to 200C for baking the pot pies.

In a medium saucepan, combine the nutritional yeast, plain flour, onion flakes, garlic flakes, vegetable and chicken stock powders. Pour in the water slowly, stirring to ensure that there are no lumps. Heat over medium-low, stirring often until the mixture comes to a boil. Turn off the heat and stir through the mustard and chopped spinach.

Arrange the roasted vegetables into 4 ramekins and then cover with the cheezy spinach sauce. Place a ramekin on the puff pastry sheet and cut out a circle of dough around the base. Stretch the dough circle with your hands a little then place it on top of the mixture in the ramekin. Brush the top of the pastry with soy milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Repeat for the other 3 ramekins. Place the ramekins on a baking tray to prevent spillages and cook for about 20 minutes or until the pastry has browned.

10 comments:

  1. I went through a pot pie stage too when I discovered the concept - they are so fun and surprisingly easy for something that often turns out well. Your recipe looks much more sophisticated than the ones I've done, so I'll look forward to trying it when our weather cools down a touch!

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    1. Pot pies are great fun and the fillings can be so versatile. They are definitely more of a winter thing but summer over here hasn't been consistently warm (in fact, it was quite cold last week) so I grabbed the chance to make them again.

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  2. Sounds great - am amazed you have more than one stock cubes - seems very sophisticated - I only tend to buy one sort at a time - my favourite pot pie is actually one that a friend of mine converted from a chicken pie (it is not vegan but has cream and just a tbsp of cheese so probably could be veganised easily) - it has lots of mushrooms and tempeh for that meaty feel

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    1. I actually keep the Massel chicken, beef and vegetable stock powder on hand most of the time as I use all of them in different recipes. I don't know what possessed me to mix two types of stock this time but either chicken or vegetable works in this sauce. Must get back into the tempeh recipe trialling soon, it's been a while!

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  3. I'm such a sucker for veg pot pies and with the cheezy sauce I'm even more in love! Comfort food perfection in a cup!

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    1. We are suckers for pot pies too and are pretty much smitten with this combination.

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  4. These sound great. And would be a great use for leftover roast veggies, which we often have in the fridge through the winter.

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    1. Yes, they would be great for using up leftover veggies. I've found that pumpkin doesn't hold it shape too well in these but firm types of vegetables should work.

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  5. Mmm I can see why this is a family favourite! Wish I had some of those fresh tomatoes. :)

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    1. Thanks Ashley! Fresh home-grown tomatoes are so nice, I only that I planted more...

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