Pot pies. I grew up on them. But not real pot pies, no, it was those little frozen, single serve, terribly terrible nasty things. Yup. All you needed to do was turn on the oven or better yet, open the microwave, poke a few holes in the frozen pie, and 10 minutes later, food. The ultimate in afterschool snacks. Oh those days. What the heck was I thinking? But my best or, most vivid memory of those pies was when I was like 10 and was stabbing one of those frozen pot pies with a very sharp knife (again, the directions stated to add a vent hole) that went threw said pie and right into the palm of my hand. I remember screaming, blood everywhere, and thinking I just cut my hand off. Luckly, it was just a big gash and the knife didn’t go all the way threw my hand so that was good. And I think that was the last time I made a pot pie. Ha.
This pot pie is nothing like those pot pies. First off, it is not frozen which is good because you won’t accidentally stab a hole into your and. Secondly, it is not nasty. And third, it is freaking awesome. There are other things that make them vastly different, but you get the idea. This pot pie is full of good veggies and tofu that are nicely spiced with a creamy oat sauce that is alll wrapped up in a easy hot water pastry crust. Everything and more a real pot pie should be. Sure, it is definitely not as quick and easy as opening a cardboard box, stabbing, and tossing the contents into the microwave but screw that, we are here for the good stuff.
To the pot pie!
The stuff. Tofu, an onion, a couple carrots and a couple mushrooms, some frozen pies, garlic, oats, spicy mustard, and spices. Also salt and pepper, oil, flour, and some boiling water.
Start with the tofu. Grab a skillet, add a dash of oil and set o the stove on median heat. Cut the tofu into small cubs and pat as much of the liquid out as you can. Place tofu into skillet, sprinkle with a little salt, and let cook.
Whle tofu is cooking, cut up veggies into small, not tiny, pieces. And mince the garlic too.
Browned and tasty tofu.
Remove tofu from skillet and place into a bowl. Add all the veggies you just cut up into the skillet along with the spices and another pinch of slat ans lots of pepper. Keep on heat and cook.
While veggies are cooking, place water and oats into blender and blend until smooth. Making oat milk to thicken the whole shebang.
Once the veggies start to soften just a bit, add the tofu back in and add the mustard too. Then dump in the oat mixture you just blend up. Mix it al up and cook for a until it just start to thicken.
Now add in frozen peas, mix, and remove from heat. Set aside. It’s now time to make the crust.
FLour, hot oil, boil water and salt.
Add all the stuff together and mix until dough forms.
Dump hot dough onto counter and kneed for a minute of two. It shouldn’t be too hot to handle, but if it is, just wait a minute.
Once kneaded and unicorn. cut 2/3 of dough off and roll out about 1/8 inch thick either on a piece of parchment or a splat mat. IT is way, way easier to deal with then trying to roll it directly on the counter.
Place rolled out dough into spring form pan. It is going to rip and tear but guess what, no big deal. Just mush and patch the holes. That is the beauty of hot water crust. Once crust is all nice and uniform and all in the pan, dump in the filling.
Now roll out the top.
Place top on, seal it up, add some vent hole and make a few little hearts with any scraps you have (only if you want too!) Now into the oven this baby goes, about and hour, until a nice golden brown.
Done and beautiful and yeah, it sprang a little leak, but thats quite all right with me.
Remove he spring form. And probably do it on a pan. Any little leaks will well, leak out a bit. But again, it’s all good.
And now all you heave to do is eat it.
A pot pie in all its glory!
-C
Tofu Veggie Pot Pie
makes one 8 inch, 2 inch deep, pie
For the filling
1 medium sized yellow onion
a few white button mushrooms (about a 1/2 cup diced)
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 small carrots
1/2 block (8oz) firm tofu
1 teaspoon each thyme, dill, rosemary, and ground ginger
2-3 cloves garlic
2 heaping tablespoons spicy brown or dijon mustard
1/4 cup old fashion oats
1 1/2 cups water
salt and pepper
a splash of oil
For Hot Water Crust
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup coconut oil,warmed
1/3 cup neutral oil,warmed
1/3 cup boiling water
Before you start cooking know that you need to make the filling first and can even make it ahead of time. The crust needs to be used right away so don’t make that in advance!
Start with tofu. Cut into small 1/2 inch cubes then press as much liquid out as you can. Place a drop of oil into a large skillet and turn onto medium heat. Drop in cubed tofu and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Cook until browned.
While tofu cooks, dice up carrots, onion, and mushrooms. Mince the garlic. Once the tofu is browned, dump it in a bowl then add the veggies and garlic to the skillet. Also add in all the spices and another good pinch of salt and lots of pepper. Stir and then cook until veggies are slightly tender.
While veggies cook, place the oats and 1 1/2 cups water into blender and blend until smooth.
And after the veggies are slightly soften, add the tofu back in, along with the mustard and the oat mixture. Stir it all around and keep on medium heat for another few minutes until the oat milk just starts to thicken. Add in the frozen peas, stir, then remove from heat. Give it a taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed.
Preheat oven to 375
Now for the crust. Place flour and salt in a big bowl and mix. Then add in warm oil (either heat on stove or in microwave) and boiling hot water. Mix unit it all comes together. Dump dough onto counter and knead for couple minutes until dough is uniform and smooth.
Cut 2/3 of the dough off and roll out in between parchment paper or on a splat mat to about 1/8 inch thick. Place into a spring form pan. It’s going to fall apart a bit but that is ok, just mush and patch up all the rips and tears so there are no holes. This dough is like play dough, very easy to manipulate. Once bottom crust is in, dump in the filling. Take the remaining dough and roll out the same way you did bottom and place on top. Seal the bottom and top crust by pinching it together. You want to try and avoid any holes so the filling doesn’t leak out. Once the crust is sealed, cut a little vent hole into the middle of the top then place pie into oven. Bake for an 60 -70 minutes or until crust is a nice golden brown.
Once baked, remove from oven and let cook for a few minutes. Then remove from pan by place pie on something like a bowl or cup that fits underneath the bottom of pan. Unlock the pan and slip ring down while the pie stays perched on cup. You can even pop the bottom of pan off if you feel like you can, but I say, why risk it. That is up to you. And sure, the pie might have sprung a little leak, but that is very much ok.
Now basically all you need to do is eat it so place pie on a big plate, grab a knife, and fork, and cut yourself a big ass piece of pot pie.
Leftovers store great in the fridge for a few days.