Serving this dish made four people very happy. It’s comforting, familiar (even though they’d never had it before) and bursting with vegetables. The smokiness of the tofu packs a really delicious punch. Imagine my delight when I was able to get a somewhat attractive photo of this comfort food! Maybe, just maybe I am getting better.
I’m going to tell you a secret: I never do a bottom layer on savoury pastry dishes. It saves time and fuss, and reduces the amount of pastry you have to make and use. You don’t miss it; trust me. You can save yourself some time and use store bought pastry – or you can throw together a half batch of Martha Stewart’s pate brisee, subbing non-dairy margarine for butter and an all purpose gluten-free flour.
Smoked Tofu Pot Pie
Serves 6, as a main
1/4 cup non-dairy margarine
1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced
5 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried dill
1/2 teaspoon salt (if using non-dairy milk)
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour, use gluten-free if needed
2 cups vegetarian chicken stock
2 cups non-dairy milk, unsweetened (or more stock)
~210 g smoked tofu, diced
1 1/2 cups diced potatoes, skins on
1 1/2 cups diced celery
1 1/2 cups diced carrots
1 1/2 cups died butternut squash
1 1/2 cups uncooked corn (2 cobs)
Pate Brisee, to cover a 2 quart dutch oven, or whatever container you’d like to bake in.
Once your vegetables have been diced, preheat oven to 425 F. Heat the margarine in the dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the onions. Let them sweat for a few minutes. Add the garlic and seasonings, stirring to prevent the garlic from burning. Next add the flour and stir to coat the onions and garlic with the flour. Cook for several minutes. Add the stock and whisk to combine. Stirring often, let it thicken slightly before adding the soy milk and whisking again to combine. Add the tofu and diced vegetables, stirring to coat all of them in the gravy. Remove from the heat. Roll out the pate brisee and cover the vegetables. Poke plenty of steam holes in the pastry. Give it a non-dairy milk bath and bake for about an hour, or until the pastry is golden brown and some gravy have bubbled up out of the stream holes. Serve hot.
Note: You can use whatever vegetables you like, just make the total about 7 1/2 cups diced and be sure to include some starchy ones, as they help the gravy to thicken.