Mince & Potato Pie – VeganMoFo Day 23

From the title of this blog post, you may think I have gone Christmassy, and indeed despite it being still September, you can already find vegan Christmas mince pies in shops (Asda’s own are registered with the Vegan Society!). However, I haven’t started on Christmas quite yet, and this meal is of the savoury nature! The prompt for today’s VeganMoFo is “Sunday Dinner”, and whilst we don’t have a Sunday dinner tradition, if we did, this pie would be on it!

This pie is a proper pie, with a pastry top and bottom, which does come with a bit more work (you have to blind bake the bottom) but it’s definitely worth it for a good roast dinner. Use whatever size pie pots you have, or even smaller ramekins – mine are quite big so it made two pies, but smaller pots would make more.

The filling is a mix of mince – here in the UK, you can get frozen mince from the supermarkets that is vegan – and potatoes and is lovely and hearty!

Mince & Potato Pies

• Servings: 2 pies
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Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp vegan worcester sauce
• 1 tsp vegetable stock powder
• 500g potatoes, diced
• 300g vegan mince
• 1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch in the US)
• 1 packet puff pastry (500g)
• 2 tbsp non-dairy milk of choice

Directions

1. Begin by frying the onion and garlic in a little oil until softened. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Add the worcester sauce, stock powder, potatoes, mince, and 500ml water.
3. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 15 minutes until the potatoes are softened.
4. In a small bowl, mix the cornflour with 2 tbsp cold water, and then stir it into the potato mix, mixing until thickened.
5. Set aside and leave to cool.
6. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F
7. Meanwhile, blind bake the bottom of the pies. Roll your pastry out to fit the pie dishes (with a little overhang), and top with baking paper and baking beans. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.
8. Trim the edges of the pies, and then add the cooled filling mixture.
9. Roll out the remaining pastry and place on top of the filling. Seal the edges with a little milk.
10. Brush the top of the pies with the remaining soy milk (this helps the pastry to go golden).
11. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown.
12. Serve hot!

Vegan Bakewell Tart – Vegan MoFo Day 17

For today’s post, I’m veganising a local recipe. I recently moved to Derby and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to make something I’ve been planning on for a while – a Bakewell Tart!

Bakewell is a village in the Peak District in Derbyshire, and it’s from there that this gorgeous tart originates. You may be more familiar with the mass produced, not-vegan mini “cherry bakewells” that have white icing and a glace cherry on top – but the original version is so much better!

It consists of a crisp pastry shell, a layer of raspberry jam, a dense almondy frangipane, and flaked almonds. It takes a while to make as you have to blind bake the pastry first – but you could always use a shop bought crust if you really want. I just like the experience of making something entirely from scratch!

Serve on its own, or warmed up with cream or ice cream.

Vegan Bakewell Tart

• Servings: 1 large pie
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Ingredients

for the pastry:

• 210g plain flour
• 115g vegan butter, chilled
• 15g powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp cold water

for the frangipane:

• 150g vegan butter
• 150g ground almonds
• 150g sugar
• 100g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp cider vinegar or lemon juice
• 100ml milk (I used almond milk)
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2 tbsp raspberry jam
• Flaked almonds, to top

Directions

Preheat the oven to 200C/390F
1. First, make the pastry. Mix the flour and icing sugar together in the bowl, and add the butter. Rub together with your fingers until you get a mix resembling coarse breadcrumbs.
2. Next, add the water, and bring together until a smooth dough is formed.
3. Roll out the pastry until it is about 5mm thick, and drape over a greased pie/tart tin. Do not trim the edges, allow to hang over the edge of the tin as the pastry will shrink in the oven.
4. Place tin foil over the pastry and fill with baking beans. Place in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.
5. After 15 minutes, remove the beans and foil and cook the pastry for a further 10 minutes or until it starts to turn golden. This dries out the base and ensures no soggy bottom!
6. Once the base is cooked, set aside (leave the oven on!) and begin on the frangipane.
7. Melt the butter either in the microwave or in a saucepan, and add to a bowl along with the sugar. Mix well.
8. Add the almond extract and ground almonds and mix again.
9. Sift in the flour, baking powder, and bicarb, and mix through, adding the milk to get a smooth consistency. Finally, mix in the cider vinegar.
10. Spread the pastry base with the raspberry jam. If you need, heat the jam for 30 seconds in the microwave to make it spreadable.
11. Spread the frangipane mix over the jam, making sure to cover it all.
12. Evenly sprinkle the flaked almonds over the frangipane.
13. Place the tart in the oven for 20 minutes, then remove and cover with foil. This stops the top from burning.
14. Put the tart back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
15. Leave to cool, and serve!

Cottage Pie – Vegan MoFo Day 9

I wasn’t too sure what to do as a “retro recipe” (today’s prompt) because, what classes as retro? Google brings up a lot of recipes that I don’t really fancy making – prawn cocktails, jello salads? No thank you. But apparently, cottage pie is also classed as a retro recipe – and since it’s super tasty, I decided to go with that!

There’s always some debate over what to call this, is it cottage pie, is it shepherd’s pie? When I was at school, in cookery class, the vegetarians made “shepherdess pie”, which I’m not so keen on, because why should a vegetarian pie be more feminine? I’m sure shepherds and shepherdesses alike would do quite well on this vegan version. Anyway, in the end I went with cottage pie, as it seems to be the oldest name for it.

I used a mixture of lentils and soya mince for the mincey filling, and also carrots and chopped tomatoes. My secret ingredient in all veggie “mince”? Marmite! Even if you don’t like marmite, it’s only a small amount and it really brings a savoury flavour to the dish.

Cottage Pie

• Servings: 3-4
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Ingredients

for the filling
• 100g brown lentils
• 1 tsp stock powder
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 200g frozen soya mince
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 1/2 tsp marmite

for the potatoes

• 3 medium potatoes, about 400g
• 1 tbsp vegan butter
splash milk
• 1/2 tsp English mustard
• Salt & Pepper

Directions

(Preheat the oven to 200C/390F)
1. In a saucepan, mix the lentils and the stock powder. Cover with boiling water and cook for 25-30 minutes, until tender.
2. Chop the potatoes into medium pieces and boil until starting to fall apart. Drain, and put back in the saucepan.
3. Add the butter, mustard, milk, and seasoning to the potatoes, mix, and mash with a potato masher. Set aside.
4. Meanwhile, in a frying pan, fry the onion, garlic, and carrot, until the onions are soft.
5. Add the herbs and marmite, soya mince, and chopped tomatoes and mix well.
6. Drain the lentils and add to the filling mix. Add extra water if needed.
7. Cook for 15 minutes on the stove top until the mince is cooked.
8. Into an ovenproof dish, pour the filling mix. Leave enough space at the top of the dish for the potatoes.
9. Smooth the potatoes over the filling and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until going golden on top.
10. Serve with peas for a traditional feel!