Saturday, February 19, 2011

{Vegetable Pot Pie}

We ask a lot from comfort food.

We expect it to warm our core, remind us of tradition, smooth over a rough
day, or keep us company when we want to stay in on a cold night.



Pot Pie is one of the favorite comfort foods at our house. I used to make it with
chicken (and sometimes I still do for David), but I usually make a vegetarian version.

This dish has been done a thousand ways by as many people. I like my take because
it's semi-homemade, and that saves me some time that I can use to to curl up and
relax on a comfort food kind of day. I do a combo of fresh and frozen vegetables
because I do not believe all frozen vegetables are created equal. The crust and
sauce are the real short cuts.

Ingredients:
Two store bought roll-out pie crusts
fresh carrots (4), celery (4), onion (half), and garlic (2-3 cloves)
frozen peas and corn
mushrooms or chicken ... or both ... seasoned with some Montreal Steak Seasoning
2 cans Cream of Potato soup
salt and pepper

How to make it:
Put some water in a small pot. Add frozen peas and carrots.
(I use about a half a bag of each.) Strain. Put in a mixing bowl.

In a frying pan with extra virgin olive oil, saute fresh garlic. Then, add
roughly chopped carrots, onion and celery. You don't need to cook these
all the way. They'll finish softening when you bake the dish, but you want
to get them started. Season with salt and pepper. Add that to the bowl.

Now, add a dab of butter to the same pan with fresh, sliced mushrooms. Give
them a few shakes of Montreal Steak Seasoning. That's the secret, right there.
Add to the bowl.

Mix in two cans of Cream of Potato soup. This gives you all the creaminess
and the chunk of the potatoes without any extra prep or ingredients. That's
good stuff, huh? Set the bowl aside.

Press one room temperature store bought crust in the bottom of a
pie plate. Pre-cook it a little according to package suggestions.
This prevents your bottom crust from being doughy when you're done.

Pour the filling into the crust.

Top it with the other crust. Pinch the edges. Cut some pretties into the top.

Place over a baking sheet lined with foil. That way, if it bubbles over
at all, your oven stays clean. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 60-80 minutes.
Let it sit on a cooling rack for a little bit so it has a chance to set.

Then, all that's left to do is to serve up a big piece, and enjoy every comforting bite.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Yum, this looks so good!