Repurposed Veggie Pot Pie

In theory, this was supposed to be an easy dish. I had planned to make a pie crust the night before and then throw the last two day's worth of leftovers in it--the lentil feta mixture from two nights ago and the leftover mashed potatos, green beans, and seitan from last night's dinner. As it turned out, I was kind of hungry last night, so . . . no leftovers. This meant that it took me a little longer to make the filling (extra 20 min. or so), but that's okay.

This pot pie was excellent! The crust was, dare I say, perfect. Light and flaky layers with the delicious flavor of an all-butter crust. The filling was hearty and comforting. Just right for a rainy not-quite-spring-yet night.

Recipe after the jump.
The thing about pot pies is that you can throw anything in a pie crust, really, and add a sauce or gravy to it. Here's how I made this one:

1 pie crust recipe, doubled if necessary (it's fine as-is for a small 2-person pie)
1 egg yolk
~1 c. vegetable broth
~1/4 c. soy milk
~2 tbl butter
1 tbl flour
handful crimini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 potato, mashed
handful green beans
1/2 loaf seitan (store-bought is fine--just use as much as you want; no need to pre-cook)
leftover lentil feta filling (you can also just use cooked lentils and sauteed onion)
water
salt & pepper (optional)

*The night before, make your pie crust dough and let rest overnight in the fridge*

Pie Crust
Makes one 9" pie crust or two smaller 5-6" ones. Make two batches if you want a 9" pot pie.
(This is mostly Bittman's recipe from HTCEV; it's a pretty standard all-butter crust)
1 c. + 2 tbl flour
1/2 c. butter (1 stick)
1/2 tsp. salt
5-6 tbl. ice water

1) Cut butter into small-ish pieces and place in freezer for about 30 min.
2) Add flour and salt to food processor and pulse a couple times.
3) Add cold butter and process until there are no large chunks of butter (nothing bigger than about pea-sized)--sift through with a fork to check--about 10 seconds. Don't overprocess--you should still be able to see pieces of butter when you roll the crust out--that's what makes it flaky.
4) Dump mixture into a large bowl (I use a metal one that's been left in the fridge to chill).
5) Add ice water a few tbl at a time and knead the flour/butter/water mixture together with your hand until it comes together into a shaggy ball of dough. Don't play with it too much or it'll become warm. The less touching the better.
6) Press ball flat (just a press or two), wrap in saran wrap and leave in fridge overnight to rest.
7) The next day, roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface into a circle about 2" larger than your pie pan (separate dough ball in half and roll out two rounds if you're using a small 5-6" pie pan).
8) Lay dough over pan and refrigerate for about an hour to let the dough relax.
9) Press dough into pan and trim edges to about 1/2" overhang.
10) Prick bottom and sides of crust with a fork and either par-bake or fill directly.
11) Place second pie crust over filling. Trim overhang and press edges together to seal. Crimp edges and make 3-4 steam vents in top crust with a sharp knife. Make sure the vents aren't too narrow or they'll fuse back together in the oven.
12) Put back in fridge to rest for another 10 min.
13) Brush with egg wash (egg yolk mixed with a little water) before baking (optional).

The keys to good (and pretty) pie crusts are cold ingredients (some people even chill the flour, but I find that a chilled bowl, cold butter, and ice water are enough) and lots of rest time to relax the gluten. Cold butter is not as readily absorbed into the flour, thus creating the flaky layers when it bakes and melts. Overworked dough that's not allowed to rest remains too elastic and will shrink in the oven, which is a very sad state of affairs.

Filling

Preheat oven to 375F

Dice potatoes and boil until tender (no need to peel)--about 10 min. Remove potatoes with slotted spoon, place in a large bowl and mash with about 1 tbl. of butter, some salt, and about 1/4 c. of soymilk. Add the soy milk slowly and stop when you have the right consistency.

Put chopped green beans in the boiling water you've just scooped the potatoes out of and parboil--about 5 min.

Melt about 1 tbl. of butter in a pan and add sliced mushrooms. Cook for a couple minutes, then add about 1/2 c. of vegetable broth and simmer until liquid is nearly absorbed and mushrooms are tender--about 8 min. Add 1 tbl. flour and stir. Slowly add remaining 1/2 c. vegetable broth a little at a time, stirring all the while to make a gravy. Make gravy thinner by adding more broth, make thicker by boiling down.

Mix together potatoes, green beans, chopped seitan (thawed, if using frozen), leftover or cooked lentils, and mushroom gravy. Add salt and pepper to taste, if needed.

Pour filling in pricked pie crust and top with second crust (I didn't par-bake due to the long cooking time). Trim, crimp, and cut steam vents. Let rest in fridge for about 10 min. after filling. Before baking, brush with an egg wash (1 egg yolk mixed with a little bit of water).

Angry Pie looks angry.

Cook on baking sheet at 375 for 45 min-1 hour. Cover with foil during baking, if crust begins to overbrown.

I neglected to put the pie on a rimmed baking sheet and wound up with a mess on the oven floor, which resulted in a lot of smoke, which in turn set off every smoke detector in the house. Again. Clearly whoever decided to install a hard-wired smoke detector next to a stove with no exhaust hood was not much of a cook. Grrrr . . .  Still though, totally worth it.