Vegetarian Pot Pie

In a continued effort to see if I can find delicious vegetarian dishes, I found this really good one by Aida Mollenkamp. I'm actually very excited to find a tasty dish by her since we were on her show, Ask Aida, last year. Our friend, Jenni, was a producer on her show and asked if we wouldn't mind being on, so we were! It was fun. And I've felt kind of silly for not looking into her recipes more until now.

I did fiddle a bit with the recipe since I don't like using half of things, especially vegetables. So instead of 2 small heads of fennel and half of an onion, I just used one of each. And I used a little less mushrooms than was called for (I used 8 ounces instead of 12 ounces) since I can more easily find 8 ounces prepackaged. Laziness on my part, I admit it. I also used vegetable broth rather than the called-for mushroom broth. I don't think I've actually ever seen mushroom broth in a store...

I think next time I'm going to go with the more traditional pot pie structure of dough encasing the whole thing (I used just a sheet of puffed pastry on top this time). I just like the final product a lot more when it's more like an actual pie. While this was very tasty, it was also kind of messy and definitely didn't come out from the pan very easily (hence, no picture). I'll definitely be trying this again though. Yum.

Vegetarian Pot Pie
A variation on this recipe by Aida Mollenkamp

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 small head fennel, finely chopped
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped
8 ounces white button mushrooms, sliced
1 small russet potato, peeled and diced small
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup whole milk
1 cup frozen baby green peas
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh chives
1/4 cup parsley
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 large egg yolk
1 sheet store-bought puff pastry OR 2 sheets pie dough, defrosted if frozen

Heat the oven to 400ºF and arrange a rack in the middle.

Melt butter over medium heat in a 3- to 4-quart Dutch oven or heavy bottomed saucepan. When it foams, add fennel, onions, and carrots, and cook until just soft and onions are translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add mushrooms and potato, season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and stir to coat. Cook, stirring rarely, until mushrooms have let off water and are shrunken, about 6 minutes.

Sprinkle flour over vegetables, stir to coat, and cook until raw flavor is gone, about 1 to 2 minutes. Carefully add broth and milk, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat, add peas, herbs, and vinegar, and stir to coat. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Turn filling into an 8 by 8-inch baking dish or pie plate. If using pie dough to make more traditional pie, place first sheet of pie dough in pie plate before adding filling.

Whisk egg together with 2 teaspoons water and a pinch of salt until evenly mixed. Set aside.

If using 1 sheet of puff pastry, place dough over filling and tuck into the edges of the dish. If making more traditional pie, place second sheet of pie dough over filling, press edges of the top layer into the edges of the bottom, and crimp the edges. Brush dough with egg wash and cut slits in the top to vent. Place on a baking sheet and bake until crust is golden brown and mixture is bubbling, about 25 to 30 minutes. Let sit at least 5 minutes before serving.