I woke up this morning very clear in my mind that this was what I was going to have for lunch. It was delicious! So, I am writing it down before I forget. This tasty creation was inspired by Jude Blereau’s Vegetable Pot Pie in ‘Wholefood’. You could use your own shortcrust pastry recipe which both books had suggested, but I chose to use a good quality ready-made puff pastry, which made it a very quick lunch. It was so scrumptious straight out of the oven with a green salad, tomato and goat’s cheese salad. As a side for the pastie, I blended; coriander, parsley, dill, mint, grated ginger into pesto of sorts. Now that I am thinking about it, Donna’s mint and parsley pesto would have been perfect with it as well.
vegetable pastie
Makes two pasties.
Serves 6
ingredients
1 roll puff pastry (whole wheat organic) or home-made pastry of choice
mushroom stock marinade
4 dried shiitake mushrooms
1½ cups water
1 tsp maple syrup (or apple juice concentrate)
1 cube vegetable stock (or 4 Tbsp tamari and 1 Tbsp dark miso)
1 sprig fresh thyme
pinch dried basil
filling
80 grams tofu, chopped into small cubes
2 tsp olive oil/ghee
5 mushrooms, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped into small cubes
1 small sweet potato, chopped into small cubes
1 medium potato, chopped into small cubes
½ cup cabbage, finely chopped
1 cup fresh corn kernels
1 cup mushroom stock marinade (above)
sauce
3 tsp wheat flour
3 tsp cornstarch/cornflour
¼ cup mushroom stock marinade (reserved from above)
1 cup soy milk
2 fresh sage leaves
freshly ground black pepper
preparation
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Make the marinade, put the shiitake mushrooms, veggie stock cube and 1½ cups water in a small saucepan, bring to boil, cover with a lid, turn off the heat and let sit for 15 minutes.
3. Remove the mushrooms and squeeze out as much liquid as possible into the saucepan, then discard the mushrooms. Stir in the maple syrup, thyme leaves and basil and diced tofu – marinate for 30 minutes.
4. Prepare the filling, heat the ghee in a frying pan, add the chopped mushrooms and saute gently for 3 minutes, then add the carrot, sweet potato, potato, cabbage and corn and tofu.
5. Put aside ¼ cup of marinade and then pour in the remaining marinade to the vegetables (1 cup approximately) – cover and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are just soft. Be careful not to overcook the vegetables.
6. Make the sauce, put the flour and cornstarch in a small bowl with the reserved marinade sauce and mix until it forms a smooth paste, slowly stir in the soy milk.
7. Pour into the pan of vegetables, along with the thyme and sage, season with pepper and cook over a gentle heat, stirring continuously, but gently, until the mixture just comes to the boil – turn off the heat and set aside.
8. Assemble, unroll the puff pastry into about a 30 x 25 cm rectangle. You will be folding it lengthwise. Place half the vegetable mixture on just one side of the rectangle, piling it high from the centre, but leaving 2 cm around the edges.
9. Brush the edges with ghee, fold the dough over, pressing hard to seal the edges. I used a fork to press around the edges to seal. Repeat for the second pastie.
10. Transfer to baking tray, then brush all over with a little ghee and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cut a couple of steam holes in the top of each pastie.
11. Bake for 50 minutes or until the pastie is golden all over. Allow it to sit for 5 minutes before serving.
Serving suggestion, use this time to throw a handful of coriander, dill, mint and parsley (or whatever is abundant in the garden) with a little chopped ginger, a little bit of chilli, 3 tablespoons of coconut milk/olive oil and lemon juice. Whizz together to form a bright green pesto, which is the perfect companion for this little pie!
Goodness shared from Stacey
