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.

Some more pot pies...

Pot pies!!! Cold drinks!!!

OK, it's pretty cheesy but that's how I announce dinner is ready when pot pies are on the menu. Anyone who has attended an AFL game would be familiar with the youngsters prowling up and down the aisles, spruiking "Hot pies, cold drinks".

Pot pies have become almost a weekly meal of late as they are always devoured by the boys. I just love the simplicity of making the filling, topping up the ramekins and dropping a lid on top. It's so much easier than fiddling around with the pastry in a pie dish. Although we have been eating lots of pot pies, I am yet to repeat a recipe and still have plenty more on my list to try.

TVP is something I rarely cook with, however I purchased a few packets some time ago and noticed they were nearing their best before dates. Rather than let it go to waste, I used some in pot pies inspired by Cindy's recipe with a few chopped mushrooms added to the mix. My only gripe was that I used too much soy and worchestershire sauce in the gravy so they turned out too be rather salty. The boys didn't seem to mind the salt factor, in fact the man was more concerned about them being too peppery (of which I added very little) as he has an extremely sensitive palate to pepper. Nonetheless they went straight to the top of his pot pie list and came second on my son's. 

These rankings were quickly surpassed by the next pot pies which did not surprise me in the least. Carla posted a roast vegetable pie recipe last year using the cheezy sauce from Veganomicon. I made this several times last winter as it was adored so much. I was slightly amused that with all this recent pot pie making, no-one had requested it. It had been in my mind to do for some time and when I declared that these were to be the next pot pies, there was genuine excitement all around. This recipe also works very well as pot pies so after my pot pie experiments are finished (if that's possible) I can see this one going onto a regular rotation over the colder months to come. 

Pot pie experiments

Pies and pastries are something I love to play around with although the vast majority of the time I freely admit that I cheat and use ready-made puff pastry sheets. When we moved back in after renovations, one of the few things I purchased for the kitchen were some ramekins as pot pies were high on my to-do list.

When choosing recipes for my Planet VeGMeL week I found a couple of pot pie recipes that almost made my selections and have been made since. The first one I tried was sweet potato and corn pot pies with adobo sauce from Where's the Beef (originally from 101 Cookbooks) which weren't really my cup of tea although I'm not really a sweet potato and corn kinda gal anyway. The next ones to get a try were tofu, mushroom and spinach pot pies from Vegan about town. These were a lot more down my alley and although I loved the combination of the tofu, mushroom and spinach, the gravy was not thick and strongly flavoured enough to totally win me over.

My next trial was using the tofu, spinach and mushroom combination again substituting the sauce/gravy from the cauliflower and mushroom pot pie with black olive crust recipe in Veganomicon. When the sauce was almost ready, I had a taste and wasn't pleased. There was a distinct floury taste and the dried thyme was a tad overpowering. I can't recall what was hastily added in an attempt to make these more appealing but I certainly wasn't going to stick to the recipe. They turned out to be passable in the end but not something I would repeat. 

As the Vegan about town recipe was my favorite of the three I decided to remake it with slight adaptations. They turned out to be the best so far as the gravy was thick and delicious and had a lovely flavour. They will be repeated this way again, however I would still like to experiment with more pot pie fillings...

Tofu, mushroom and spinach pot pies (Adapted from Vegan about town)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 leek, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried majoram
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
250g firm tofu, pressed and cut into small cubes
1 medium tomato, finely chopped
4 large portobello mushrooms, chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon gravy powder
1/2 cup water
100g baby spinach leaves
salt and pepper, to taste
1 puff pastry sheet
soy milk, for brushing
sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 200C. Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan and fry the leek until softened. Add the garlic and stir for a minute, then stir through the dried basil, oregano, majoram and smoked paprika. 

Add the tofu cubes and mix gently until well covered. Stir through the tomatoes and mushrooms and cook for about 10 minutes until the mushrooms have softened and begin to release their juices. Mix the gravy powder with water until it becomes a smooth paste and add the paste to the saucepan along with the soy sauce. Stir continuously until the gravy thickens then add the spinach leaves and cook until wilted. If the gravy is too thick, add a little more water. Season with salt and pepper.

Spoon mixture into 4 ramekins until each one is 3/4 full. Place each ramekin on the puff pastry sheet and cut out a circle of dough around the base. Cover the mixture in each ramekin with a puff pastry circle, then brush with soy milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the pastry has browned.