I woke up this morning, and it was 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. Jude Blereau’s Vegetable Pot Pie inspired this tasty creation in ‘Wholefood’.  You could use your own shortcrust pastry recipe suggested by both books, but I chose to use a good quality ready-made puff pastry, making it a very quick lunch.  It was so scrumptious 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, and grated ginger into a 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. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

prepare the marinade

  1. Place 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.
  2. Remove the mushrooms and squeeze out as much liquid as possible into the saucepan, then discard them. Stir in the maple syrup, thyme leaves, basil, and diced tofu, and marinate for 30 minutes.

prepare the filling

  1. 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, corn, and tofu.
  2. Set aside ¼ cup of marinade and pour the remaining marinade (approximately 1 cup) into the vegetables. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are just soft. Be careful not to overcook the vegetables.

prepare the sauce

  1. Place 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.
  2. Pour the mixture 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 a boil. Turn off the heat and set aside.

assemble

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Transfer to a baking tray, brush all over with a little ghee, and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cut a couple of steam holes in the top of each pastie.

bake

  1. Bake for 50 minutes or until the pastie is golden all over.  Allow it to sit for 5 minutes before serving.

serving suggestion

Use the baking time to combine 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, three tablespoons of coconut milk/olive oil, and lemon juice. Whizz together to form a bright green pesto, the perfect companion for this little pie!

Goodness shared from Stacey