Portabella Pot Pie

My mouth waters when someone breaks into those fluffy, golden crusts and start digging into those chicken pot pies. I decided, this is going to be my first post.

Inside those crispy golden shell is a gooey, delicious gravy. For this recipe, we are going to substitute the chicken with portabella mushrooms.

Cook Time : 45 min Cooking Level: Easy Cuisine: American

First the prep work:

Cut 2 whole portabella mushrooms in 1-inch square chunks.

Roughly dice, half a large yellow/white onion, 2 carrots, zucchini, artichoke hearts or any leftover vegetable in your fridge (No tomatoes, spinach or cucumber - as these veggies release too much water and are not suited for this dish).

We'll need 1 cup of vegetable stock (or water), 1/2 cup of milk, 1 tbsp of sour cream and one raw egg.

Keep ready about half a tsp of cumin and half a tsp of finely chopped thyme, garlic, half a cup of frozen peas and 2 dried red chillies.

Keep ready, store bought, frozen puff pastry sheets. Take these out of the freezer before you start making the gravy. This allows the puff pastry sheets to be more manageable for us to roll and cut.

In a pan, heat 1-2 tbsp of Extra virgin olive oil. Add the mushrooms to this, and in about a min, you'll see the corners browning. At this point, hit the mushrooms with a tsp of salt and little of ground black pepper. The salt helps pull out all the extra moisture hidden inside the mushrooms and brings out the overall flavor. Once all the water has evaporated, put the mushrooms aside in a bowl.

Now to the same pan, add the cumin; once roasted, add dried red chillies, 2 gloves of roughly chopped garlic, onions and all the chopped vegetables. Add appropriate amounts of salt and black pepper to this. Cook this till most of the vegetables are almost cooked. To this add half a cup of thawed frozen peas. Now, add one tbsp of olive oil and in a min add 2 tbsp of all purpose flour. Cook the flour till the rawness disappears and it blends in with the vegetables. Now add 1 cup of vegetable stock (you could add water, but the stock has more flavor and helps thicken the gravy), and half a cup of milk (2% is ok). Now add the roasted portabella mushrooms and mix this all up. Bring the pan to a medium simmer and let it cook for 10-15 mins. Stir every 3-5 mins depending on the pan and the heat. To this gravy, add 1 tbsp of Sour Cream for a little extra flavor and creaminess. Once the flour works with the milk and stock, we should have a thick gooey gravy. Turn off the heat and add the finely chopped thyme and stir the gravy.

While the gravy is cooking, take the puff pastry sheets out of the package and cut circles out of dough. These should be just a few inches larger in diameter than the size of your oven proof soufflé cups. Lay these flat on a foil or parchment paper. In a cup, break and beat one raw egg. This is going to used as our egg wash. Brush a little of these on one side of the dough. This helps bring out the beautiful golden color on the crust.

Take four soufflé cups and fill them with our creamy gravy. Fill these in completely, almost up to the brim. Apply some water to the rim of the cups. This will keep our crust in place. Now, egg wash side down, gently lay these dough circles on top of the cups. DO NOT press down too much. Now brush some of the left over egg wash on the top side of the dough. Using a fork, prick in the center of the dough circle to make 1-2 tiny holes. This helps the air release and the dough rise beautifully. Bake these in an oven for 15 mins, pre-heated to 400 deg C.

15 mins later, you can have delicious pot pie for lunch or dinner. This is such a great way to eat all the vegetables in a fun way. Please try it and let me know if it was everything you expected it to be :D

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