Carol L. Cain
Vegetable Pot Pie
Filling: 1 block (approx. 1 lb) firm or extra firm tofu 1/2 lb mushrooms 1 medium carrot 2 small or 1 large leek 2 large stalks of broccoli 2 cloves garlic 1 lb. spinach 1 tsp. oregano 1 tsp. basil 3 Tbsp. nutritional yeast 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. garlic powder Crust: 2 cups whole wheat flour 3/4 stick margerine 1 tsp. salt 1/2 cup water Chop up mushrooms and broccoli and set aside in seperate bowls. Chop leek into thin ringlets and dice carrot. Wash spinach very thoroughly and remove stems, then chop coarsly and set aside. In a large frying pan or wok, add oil and finely chopped garlic. When thoroughly heated add leek and carrot. Stir every so often to prevent burning. Cook on medium until carrot becomes half cooked - about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms. Take spices and grind between the palms of your hand over the pan for a few seconds, and then add to cooking vegetables. After 3 or 4 minutes add spinach. Keep stirring until spinach is cooked. Meanwhile, have the broccoli steaming for about 7 minutes. Drain both broccoli and sauteed vegetables well. Excess liquid will make the pie soupy. In a large bowl crumble tofu and add all the cooked veggies. Add salt and nutritional yeast and stir well. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Knead margerine into flour with fingers. When mixed well, add salt and water. Knead again until thoroughly mixed. Divide dough into two sections. In a 9" by 9" ceramic or glass pan take half of the dough and slowly press it outwards until the entire bottom surface and most of the sides are covered. Add vegetable mixture. With remaining dough, either use a rolling pin to roll it out into a shape to cover veggies, or just take small pieces of dough, stretch, and piece by piece cover pie. Press edges together so that it is fairly well sealed. Make slashes in crust for air vents. Place in oven and cook 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown and crusty. Variations: -Use oregano, savory, and tarragon for spices. -Instead of tofu, use cooked, mashed potatoes as the base filling, with some margerine, or soymilk added in to make it nice and moist. -Use a tomato in the filling to give it a small tomatoey flavor. I tried this once, and it was really wierd. Can't decide if I like it or not. -This is a veg pot pie, so if you like some OTHER vegetable, by all means - add it! I just used these because I liked them, so be original and experiment. This was originally adapted from the mushroom/spinach/tofu pot pie in the New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook.