Rustic Vegetable Pot Pie

I like rustic, imperfect dishes.  Simple foods remind me of my grandmother's cooking. I was looking for a pot pie recipe as I thumbed through Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.  He didn't list a pot pie (and why not I wonder, with a book titled How to cook Everything?) but I found a kale pie and that gave me the idea of adding kale to my vegetarian pot pie.  Even if he doesn't have exactly everything, I still get plenty of ideas from his book.

I figured I could cook a lot of vegetabes in a skillet, top it with a crust, and bake it until the crust was done.  It couldn't be any more difficult than that. Or so I thought. I could add just about any vegetable and my trusty Cooking Assistant would be happy.

I'd wanted sage, but it didn't look fresh at the market, so I used thyme and rosemary for flavor.  I also made a honey-mustard cabbage--a dish with three ingredients--cabbage, mustard and honey--from an old recipe in this old Dean Ornish book.

I'm all for easy to when it came to making and putting a crust on.  And I had a couple frozen pie crusts, so I thawed one and decided the easiest option was to tip the frozen crust upside down on the vegetables, then patch it together. This is what happens when you try to do that.  If company is coming, you might want to rethink your options.  The taste and texture are there, and next time I might seriously work on presentation.

Then again, maybe the lazy cook would just go with the same option as I tried the first time, because as far as taste and texture were concerned, it worked.  

I've got a busy week lined up and this is a great budget-worthy start, especially if you grow your own potatoes and kale.  I served this vegetable pot pie with honey-mustard cabbage and balsamic marinated beets with avocado. 

The best part is we have leftovers!   This is also my favorite kind of breakfast.  

Rustic Vegetable Pot Pie

(Serves 4)

Look for seitan in natural food stores.  If you can't eat wheat, use eight ounces of crumbled tempeh instead.

1 to 2  tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 cups shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 1/2 cups diced carrots

2 to 3 cloves garlic, pressed

1 cup, cubed seitan, cut into small pieces

1 cup diced rutabaga

1/2 small sweet potato, diced

2 small potatoes, diced

1/2 cup Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot

1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried, chopped rosemary

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 bunch kale, finely chopped

1 tablespoon chopped Mama Lil's Peppers or 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

1/2 to 3/4 cup vegetable broth or water

1/2 teaspoon sea salt (optional)

1 frozen pie crust, thawed

Earth Balance buttery spread or butter

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1. Saute onions and mushrooms in oil, until mushrooms soften.  Add carrots, garlic, seitan.  Stir and cook until carrots soften.  Stir in garlic, seitan, sweet potato, potatoes, wine, rosemary and thyme.  Stir and cook until wine evaporates.   Add tomato paste, kale, Mama Lil's peppers, vegetable broth and sea salt. Stir until well blended.

2. Preheat oven to 350F.  Transfer mixture to a quiche or deep pie pan.  Place frozen crust carefully on top.  (You can roll it out again, so it will fit your vegetable pie much better than mine fit.

3. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until crust is nicely browned.

My Assistant prefers to start with the cabbage.