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Hannah of Rise and Shine was our October 2013 Daring Bakers’ hostess and she challenged us to bake our own double crusted savory pot pies. Using any from-scratch crust and filling we choose, we were allowed to get completely creative with our recipe, showing off the savory flavors and fillings from our own home or region.
Chicken pot pie is a delicious meal, but it’s typically so heavy. I’m trying to really pick and choose what I indulge in as we approach the holiday season, but I didn’t want to skip out in this month’s challenge.
A top and bottom crust were required in the challenge — normally I’d only do a top crust to lighten this up, but I stuck to the rules. If I was going to indulge in a traditional crust with a lot of butter and flour, I decided to make it super tasty by adding a combination of fresh and dried herbs.
The requirements for the filling were just that it needed to have a gravy. I used this as my opportunity to cut calories. Instead of the usual butter, milk, and flour used to make gravy, I used puréed cauliflower and broth. I decided to keep it vegetarian and filled out the rest of the dish with veggies.
This recipe is a really fun project. The dough is supposed to rest in the freezer for an hour, but while that’s going on you can make the sauce and filling. For the veggies in the filling (kale, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, onion) I was using what I had on hand, but feel free to add some protein (chicken or black beans would be great) and whatever veggies you have on hand.
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening
- 3/4 cup (6 ounces) cold unsalted butter
- 1 cup cold water
- About 1 lb cauliflower, roughly chopped
- 1 cup vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 sprig whole fresh rosemary
- 1 1/2 cups diced potatoes (I used gold potatoes)
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped carrots
- 1 cup mushrooms, roughly sliced
- 3/4 cup small bite-sized broccoli florets
- 1/2 small yellow onion
- 2 cups chopped kale, stems removed
Add flour, sugar, salt, finely chopped rosemary, thyme, and black pepper to a large bowl. Stir to combine.
Add the shortening and quickly grate the butter over the bowl. You want the shortening and butter to stay as cold as possible. Cut the butter and shortening into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender, wire whisk, or fork, until the dough is pea-sized crumbles.
Pour in the cold water and gather the dough into a ball. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead about 10 times.
Divide the dough in half, form each into a ball and flatten into a disc. Cover the two discs, separately, in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Boil cauliflower until you can easily pierce it with a fork. Drain cauliflower and place in a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth, then blend in the broth.
Put the cauliflower puree in a saucepan. Add the sprig of rosemary and heat on low while preparing remaning ingredients.
Place the potatoes and carrots in a saucepan. Cover with cold water, about an inch past the vegetables. Boil until tender. Drain.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Remove the cauliflower puree from the heat and put it in a large bowl. Add the potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, onion, and kale. Stir to coat. Set aside.
On a floured surface, roll out one of the discs of dough to about 1/4 inch thick. It should be about 15 inches in diameter to properly fit a 9-inch pie pan.
Sprinkle the dough with flour. Fold the disc in half, then into quarters. Transfer to the pie pan, pointed end facing towards the center of the pan. Unfold the dough.
Spoon the filling into the pie crust.
Follow the instructions above for the second piece of dough. Place it on top of the filled crust. Pinch the edges together to seal, or crimp with a fork.
Bake for 45 - 50 minutes, until the top crust is becoming golden brown. If using a glass pie pan, look at the bottom of the pie to check the color there as well. If it's browning too quickly, cover it with foil. If the edges are browning, but not the middle, just cover the edges with foil.
https://www.nowyourecook.in/2013/10/27/herbed-crust-veggie-pot-pie/