There's nothing better than to come home to a warming and comforting pot pie, especially during the cold Winter months. This grain free vegetable pie features a crumbly crust made from almond flour and extra virgin olive oil and a selection of winter vegetables bursting with colour and taste all immersed in a sweet onion and herb gravy and not a grain in sight.
Almond flour is rich in fat so adding an oil to it doesn't work easily. The trick is to put the oil in the freezer first to become solid and to keep the pastry very cold throughout the preparation time. When it's baked, the pastry has a lovely crumbly texture. A little tip for you - when replacing solid fat with oil, you only need to use three quarters of the weight of the solid fat.
The pastry will cover a pie dish 8 - 9" in diameter (including the lip) and there are enough vegetables to fill up to a 2 pint dish. Alternatively you can make 4 half pint individual pies.
Vegetable Pot Pie GF SCD
2 carrots chopped and diced
half a small butternut squash chopped and diced
1 leek finely sliced
1 stick of celery finely chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 cup frozen peas
¼ - ½ small cauliflower chopped into small florets
4 mushrooms thinly sliced
½ pint stock or water
2 bay leaves
extra virgin olive oil
Sauce :
1 large red onion sliced
½ tsp dried sage
½ tsp dried parsley
½ tsp dried rosemary
½ tsp dried thyme
½ pint stock or water
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
Pastry :
200 g almond flour
3 tblsps extra virgin olive oil placed in a bowl in the freezer until solid (ice cube trays would be ideal)
pinch salt
1 - 2 tblsps cold water
Baking paper
- Set the oven to 160° C.
- First make the pastry in a food processor.
- Take the oil out of the freezer and place the container for a few minutes over a pan of hot water so the oil begins to come away from the dish.
- Pour the ground almonds into the bowl, add salt and the frozen oil then process until the oil is combined. Add a tablespoon of cold water and pulse adding a little more water until it comes together. Wrap in foil or parchment and place in the freezer or fridge.
- Heat a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a pan and add the sliced red onion.
- Fry the onion over a medium heat until translucent. Add the sage, parsley, rosemary and thyme, plenty of salt and black pepper and half a pint of water or stock and leave to simmer on the stove.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a deep frying pan, add the prepared leek and celery and cook for about five minutes until soft then add the crushed garlic.
- Add the diced butternut squash and carrots and stir.
- Add the cauliflower and mushrooms and cook for a few minutes more.
- Add the bay leaves, water or stock, place a lid over the pan and leave to cook for a further 10 to 15 minutes until the vegetables are just tender.
- Take out a couple or more large spoonfuls of the vegetables and add to the red onion and stock. Using a hand blender, blend until smooth. Make sure you add enough vegetables to form a thick sauce.
- Pour the sauce into the pan of vegetables, add the frozen peas and stir.
- Tip the vegetables into the pie dish.
- Take the pastry out of the fridge or freezer.
- Use a little of the pastry to press around the rim of the dish to enable the pastry to seal.
- Place the rest of the pastry between two large pieces of baking paper to roll to the size of the dish.
- Gently turn the pastry (still on the paper) over the pie and carefully peel off the paper so it is covering the pie. If it tears a little you can patch it with a little of the excess pastry and some water. I have some visual instructions on how to do this on my apricot slice post. Seal the edge with your fingers (see above) and slice a couple of air holes in the middle.
- Place in the oven on a tray and cook for 45 minutes to an hour or until the pastry is cooked. If you use a higher temperature the pastry may burn.
