It’s pastry week this week and I must admit… I don’t really enjoy savoury pastries usually. The savoury pie is purely British to me and I usually find them a bit bland. (Why have a bunch of meat inside a gross hot water crust (sorry Paul), instead of just making a beautiful piece of meat?)
Anyways, I digress as this isn’t really the place to wax poetically about the pros and cons of pies as I had to just get on board and make one.
I was sad to see Julia go, it definitely should have been Stacey – she left a piece of paper inside her flippin’ pastry; so I don’t know what the judges were thinking there. But I was so thrilled that Liam had a win!
Now that I’ve complained about pastry week and savoury pies, I can be a hypocrite and admit that I really loved eating my pastry. I made a Wholewheat Spiced Cauliflower and Potato Pie (vegan, still) and I thought it was so tasty. I ate quite a bit of the filling before it even made it in to the pie, to be honest.
This spiced cauliflower and potato filling is the best. Full stop.
Bucking English traditions, Sam doesn’t really like pies either and he heartily enjoyed this one too. Maybe I’ve cracked savoury pies!
Wholewheat Spiced Cauliflower and Potato Pie
Ingredients:
For the vegan wholewheat shortcrust pastry:
2 1/4 cups of wholewheat flour
3/4 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
6 tablespoons of olive oil
8 tablespoons of aquafaba (chickpea water)
For the filling:
3 medium potatoes, boiled and mashed
1 red onion, diced
3/4 of a bell pepper, diced
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of chilli flakes
1 medium carrot, diced
1.5 cups of cauliflower
1 tin of peas
1/4 teaspoon of cumin
1/2 teaspoon of tumeric
1/2 teaspoon of ginger
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
Coconut oil to top
Instructions:
Make your mashed potatoes like you usually would and then set them aside to cool.
In a large bowl, mix together all your dry pastry ingredients. Then add in the oil and mix it in with your fingertips trying to get the texture to resemble that of breadcrumbs.
Then add in your aquafaba, one tablespoon at a time. You want your dough to be soft but non-sticky. Try not to knead your dough. Work it into a small ball and then pop in in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Once your pastry is in the fridge, in a large saucepan add in your olive oil, peppers, chilli flakes, cumin and onion. Saute them all together for about 10-12 minutes.
Whilst that is happening, in another pot boil your peas, cauliflower and carrots together for 10 minutes. Strain them and then add them into your onion mix (after it has cooked for its 10-12 minutes.)
Take your dough out of the refrigerator.
Saute the spicy onion, carrots peas and cauliflower together for about 10 minutes. Then add in your mashed potatoes, ginger, turmeric, salt and lemon juice. Mix it all together and cook it for a further 7 minutes. Once it’s finished take it off the heat.
Preheat your oven to 220 C. Grease whatever pie pan you are going to use. Roll out your dough and divide it into enough for the bottom of your dish and a top. Then press the pastry into your dish. Then prick the bottom all over with a fork. Blind bake it for about 10 minutes.
Then take your crust out of the oven and fill it with your filling. Add a dash more salt to the filling if you desire it. Top with your remaining pastry and pinch the edges together.
Usually at this stage you’d use an egg wash so that the top of your pie is golden; a good vegan alternative is to brush it with coconut oil.
Put your pie in the oven and bake it for 20-25 minutes or until the top is golden brown and feels quite solid.
Notes:
A vegan egg wash alternative for savouries are coconut oil, but a great one for sweet pastries is agave nectar.
It wasn’t Harold’s favourite bake of the bake along so far. To be honest, he prefers sweet dishes to savoury ones, so he judges it 4 out of 5 licks.
I’m excited to see what everyone came up with this week, so link up your bakes below!
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