Omnivore Challenge: Lentil and Mushroom Pot Pies

Lentil and Mushroom Pot Pies

I've been wanting to do more with lentils lately. I buy them and then they just sit in the bag in the cupboard all forlornly because I forget about them. So two nights ago, I decided to make lentil and mushroom pot pies. These lentil and mushroom pot pies, to be specific.

Details after the jump:


I halved the recipe to make two 2-cup pies instead of four and pretty much followed it otherwise. Wegmans was out of dried porcini mushrooms, so I used dried chanterelles instead. They look so pretty when reconstituting:

I also used acidulated soy milk instead of buttermilk in the biscuit topping (add ~1 tbl. lemon juice to 1 c. soy (or cow's) milk to create a buttermilk substitute).

The recipe, when halved, yielded about 4 cups, which I put in two pie dishes.

I will admit to getting a little lazy with the topping, because, to be honest, these things take way too long to make and I was ready for them to go in the oven already. So instead of rolling out the top and trimming it in a pretty circle to go on top, I kind of just pressed out a couple ovals and plopped them over the filling then sprinkled a little Gouda on top.

I was a bit disappointed in the biscuit top when these came out of the oven. I expected them to rise a bit. I was working with old baking powder, so perhaps that was the culprit (even though I tested it in warm water first and it seemed to still be active).

Lovely Carnivorous Boyfriend and I had these with little side salads dressed in a lemon vinaigrette (olive oil, lemon juice, sugar, salt, pepper, dijon mustard).

LCBF liked these much more than I did. He said they were good and tasted "like pot pie." It's true; they did taste like pot pie, and I liked the Gouda topping--I should've used more. But overall I felt like they weren't good enough to justify the time investment (over 2 hrs.). Some of the larger Chanterelles were chewy, which gave the dish more of a meaty feel than I really like. We did polish off both of these though, so I suppose they weren't bad, but I probably won't make them again.