vegan root vegetable pot pie

I had two things in mind while I was buying quite the haul of root vegetables the other day: a recipe my mom had sent me awhile back for "roasted vegetable pie," and a root vegetable pot pie I had in London last summer at an amazing restaurant called Maggie Jones (thanks for the rec, Rick Steves!).  What I failed to do was actually read the recipe from my mom before going grocery shopping.  I purchased what I thought went into it, only to realize upon coming home that the only thing that recipe and my groceries had in common was carrots.  Whoops.  So the improving began.

 
This recipe is long, even with my usual shortcuts like not freezing the pie dough for an hour and pressing the dough into the pan instead of rolling it out (we might call my style of pie dough "rustic").  This recipe is messy.  I have a kitchen sink full of root vegetable peels and food processor parts which need to be scrubbed clean of pie dough gunk.  This is the kind of recipe that makes me wish I had an industrial kitchen (with a drain in the floor) which I could just hose off afterward.

Vegan Root Vegetable Pot Pie  (adapted from Family Circle's Roasted Vegetable Pie)

For the filling:
3 large turnips
4 carrots
5 parsnips
6 medium beets
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

For the roux:
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon olive oil (spooned off from the bottom of the roasting pan)
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
4 tablespoons water

For the pie crust: (adapted from this recipe)
2-1/4 cups wheat flour
1 scant cup Earth Balance margarine
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold water

Directions: Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  To prep the veggies, peel and then cut them into small chunks.  Coat a large baking dish with nonstick spray.  Place your vegetables in the dish and toss them in the olive oil with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.  Roast at 450 for 40 minutes or until tender.

 While the veggies are roasting, prep the pie crust.  In a food processor, pulse the Earth Balance, flour, and salt until it forms beads.  Slowly add in the water, 1/4 cup at a time.  Continue to pulse until all the water is incorporated, but be careful not to over process.  Scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto a floured surface.  Form two balls, wrap each in plastic, and freeze for at least 20 minutes.

Once the veggies are done roasting, take them out of the oven, sprinkle them with the thyme, oregano, and remaining salt.  Prep your roux in a small bowl, using oil spooned off from the bottom of the roasting pan.  Drizzle the roux over the veggies, still in their roasting pan.  Use a wooden spoon to toss the veggies in the roux so they are all coated. 

Thanks to the beets, everything takes on a pink hue.  Just the way I like it!

Take the pie dough out of the freezer.  Press one ball into the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan.  Cover the entire bottom and as much of the sides as possible with this dough.  Scrape the roasted veggies and roux into the pie pan.  Unwrap the second ball of dough and use your fingers to flatten it out as much as possible.  Place it on top of the roasted veggies -- when I saw mine wasn't going to cover all the veggies all the way, I tore off small pieces and distributed them evenly to make like a "crumble." 

Someone needs to work on her pie crust skills ...

Bake at 450 for 15 minutes, then 425 for 25 minutes.  Allow to cool before cutting.  This tasted pretty darn good on a 90 degree day in July, so I can't wait to try it again in cooler temps.

Okay, not the most attractive dish I've ever made.  But it was delicious.