Wee Feast

When you’re in the mood for Sunday dinner, and the weather says it’s spring—despite the chilly weather—vegetable pot pie is the ultimate fix. It has both a warming casserole appeal and spring-is-coming-just-look-at-all-those-veggies optimism. Fancy enough for company, simple enough to feed a crowd of young professionals exhausted after a late Saturday night, this was the perfect Sunday evening meal this weekend.

I remembered seeing a vegetable pot pie recipe in a copy of Barefoot Contessa: Parties! Since Laura reminded me with her post on Friday how much I like Ina Garten, I went for that particular version of the dish.

I’d advise making this on a weekend, when you’re not in a hurry and can wander your local Whole Foods or find a produce stand to pick out what early spring vegetables/late winter vegetables look good. The original recipe calls for potatoes, butternut squash, asparagus, onions, carrots, and pearl onions. You should adjust the quantities to your taste. For example, I couldn’t find a butternut squash that looked good, so I subsituted sweet potato. I also added turnips and peas, and decreased the amount of asparagus because it was expensive this week. I think it is really important to tweak recipes depending on the freshness of your produce, what flavors you enjoy, and what’s in your budget.

That’s why I didn’t use the fennel, Pernod, saffron, or as many yellow onions as the recipe originally calls for. I also subbed light cream for heavy cream and some of the butter for olive oil because even though fat doesn’t scare me, enough is enough sometimes.

After you pick out your produce, throw together a pretty simple pastry when you get time, and let it rest in the fridge until you’re ready. I’d forgotten how much I like shortening pastry. It’s the kind my mom made growing up, so it just feels more right to me than butter-only pastry. Also, the pastry blender is probably my most under-appreciated kitchen implement. Often it languishes in a drawer, but when the meal is at stake it’s my go-to utensil.

For pastry

1. Mix up 3 c flour, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder in a bowl, stir to combine.
2. Using a pastry blender, cut in 1/2 c vegetable shortening and 1 stick of cold butter already cut into bits.
3. Once the mixture resembles peas, mix in 1/2 c ice water. I use my hands.
4. If the mixture isn’t moist enough, add up to 1/4 c more ice water.
5. Once it’s all smooth and combined (you might need some light kneading), put it back in the fridge, covered, to rest (minum half an hour, probably ok to do a day ahead).

For pot pie

1. Make the pastry.
2. Cut up an onion and set aside.
3. Cut up the other vegetables: 1 c potatoes, 1 1/2 c sweet potatoes, 1/2 c turnips. Put those three in a bowl. Cut up 1 c asparagus and 1 c spring carrots. Put those two in a bowl.
4. Set some water to boil.
5. In the boiling water, cook the potatoes, sweet potatoes, and turnips for 10 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon. Then pour in the asparagus and carrots, and cook for 5 minutes before removing.
6. In a separate pot or pan, melt a stick of butter. Sauté the onion for about 10 minutes, until translucent.
7. Mix in 1/2 c flour to make a roux, stirring constantly. Toast the flour for about 3 minutes. This is what’s going to make your sauce nice and thick.
8. Slowly add in 2 1/2 c vegetable stock, continuing to stir constantly, so you don’t wind up with gelatinous flour mess.
9. Add 1/2 tsp black pepper and 1 1/2 tsp salt to the sauce.
10. Cut up 1/2 c fresh parsley.
11. Add parsley and cooked vegetables to the sauce, and stir to combine.
12. Preheat your oven to 375F.
13. Remove your dough from the fridge. Roll it out with a rolling pin or sheer will (patting down with your hands? a paper towel roll covered in plastic wrap?) until it roughly matches the size of your casserole dish.
14. Pour your vegetables into a casserole dish.
15. Beat an egg together with water. Using a pastry brush or a paper towel dipped in the mixture, trace the egg wash around the edges of your casserole dish so that the dough will stick to it.
16. Place the dough on top of your vegetables in the casserole dish. Crimp the edges to the edge of your dish with a fork. Trim excess dough. If you want to make a cute shape to put on top of your pot pie, now’s the time to use that excess dough.
17. Brush the whole top with the egg wash, and sprinkle with salt and a little more pepper.
18. Cut vents in your pastry so the steam can escape.
19. Bake for about an hour.

One of my dining companions commented, ”This is like eating a spring vegetable garden.” And no, they did not miss the chicken.