Creamy Vegetable Pot Pie

It's really not my intention to make vegans fat with all these creamy, fatty dishes I've been doing lately! It's just that creamy leek sauce turned out so well and I keep thinking of things to use it in....and the doughnuts, well, I blame the weather, I should get out more....Anyway, I used to make this now and again as is featured on my old blog . It's always been a favorite and I've been waiting until I had a good creamy, cheesy type sauce to replace with, and have now found it. The leek cheezly sauce works perfect in this, I just added a large clove of garlic to separate it from a macaroni sauce slightly. Again though this is well over 700 calories so not something to have too often! The veg can be adapted to whatever you like, these are just my favorites, beans of some sort would go great as well of course. I actually didn't have any potatoes when I made this one so just upped the quantities of the other veg to compensate, it's very versatile, as long as you keep the weight quantities about the same it will work.

**2011 Edit - I haven't used oat cream or milk for years and felt this needed updating. I really prefer this version. I have fallen in love with Kara Coconut milk, it's not like coconut milk in a can, you buy it like soy milk and it has a really neutral flavour, perfect for savoury sauces. I also used in the sauce a Kallo Organic Garlic and Herb stock cube - gave the sauce perfect flavour and was so easy. I added some Flageolet beans for extra protein and omitted the cheezly from the sauce. I didn't take a photo as really, it looks just like this one. **

This version serves 4 at just 411 calories per serving, so a vast improvement all around!

Creamy Vegetable Pot Pie - 2011 edit, serves 4

100g broccoli florets
100g carrots, diced
100g new potatoes, peeled and diced
100g petite pois
100g sweetcorn
100g flageolet beans, drained
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25g vegan butter
100g onions, diced small
25g plain flour
500ml dairy free milk
1 Kallo garlic and herb stock cube, or one you like.
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200g ready rolled puff pastry

Boil the carrots and potato together until just fork tender in salted water. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and keep aside. Add the peas, corn and broccoli and boil until the brocolli is just fork tender, be careful not to overcook it. Drain and add to the carrots and potatoes.

Heat the milk with the stock cube until it has dissolved and the milk is warm.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the onion, fry until soft. Add the flour and fry gently 1 minute. Add a small amount of the warm milk and beat well with a wooden spoon, keep adding the milk a bit at a time until it is all incorporated. Bring to the boil and simmer until thickened. Add all the veg and the beans to this and fold gently with a rubber spatula until everything is nicely coated.

Tip it all into a buttered casserole dish and top with the ready rolled puff pastry. Brush the top with some milk and pop it into the preheated oven for about 15 - 20 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes then serve.

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Original Version: serves 2

Vegetables:
100g broccoli florets
100g carrots, chopped
100g potatoes, diced
50g frozen peas
50g frozen sweetcorn

Sauce:
50g leek
10g flour
20g vegan margarine
200ml oatly cream
50ml water
2 small or 1 large bay leaf
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
50g extra mature cheddar style cheezly

Topping:
about 167g ready rolled puff pastry (check vegan, most are)
some dairy free milk for brushing on top (I used rice dream)

Preheat oven to 220C/425F

Boil carrots and potato together in salted water until just fork tender. Scoop out with slotted spoon and set aside. Add rest of veg to water, bring to boil and cook until the broccoli is just fork tender. Do not overcook or the broccoli will just turn to mush, it's really just for a couple minutes. Drain and set aside.

Heat the margarine in a small saucepan and fry the leek and bayleaf till soft, about 5 minutes. Mix the flour, salt, dry mustard and few grinds black pepper together then add to the leeks with the garlic. Stir for 1 minute then add the water in 2 batches, stirring well between both until nice and creamy. Slowly add the oatly cream until fully incorporated, stirring constantly. Stir in the parsley and cheezly and stir until melted.

Add the veg to this and toss gently with a rubber spatula until well incorporated. Tip into a 'buttered' casserole dish (individual ones would be great for this if you have some). Pat some water along the edge of the dish then place the ready rolled puff pastry over top, right on top of the filling, cut the edges and flute if desired, I never get fancy with my pastry edges! Brush the whole surface with dairy free milk and place in the oven until puffed up and golden. I think mine took about 10 - 15 minutes.


Let cool slightly then serve, serves 2.