Vegetable Pot Pie

This recipe was adapted from a recipe we found on AllRecipes.com. The original recipe can be seen here. We simply changed it to fit our tastes and the veggies we had available at the time. We also used a frozen pie crust instead of making one from scratch.

Ingredients

* olive oil
* onion, chopped
* garlic, minced
* potatoes, peeled and diced
* green beans, trimmed and snapped into 1/2 inch pieces
* peas, shelled
* corn (frozen)
* 3 cups vegetable broth
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 2 tablespoons cornstarch
* 2 tablespoons soy sauce
* 2 frozen pie crusts (one for the top)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet or saucepan. Cook onions, garlic and potatoes in oil for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently until onions are soft and potatoes are golden brown. Add green beans, peas, corn and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to a simmer. Cook until vegetables are barely tender. Season with salt and pepper.
3. In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch, soy sauce, and 1/4 cup water until cornstarch is completely dissolved. Stir into vegetables, and cook until sauce thickens, almost like a gravy.
4. Pour the filling into the pastry lined dish. Arrange second crust over the filling, and seal the edges.
5. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the crust is brown.


This actually made quite a bit of filling. We made one pot-pie for dinner and froze the rest to use later.

Fresh Peas

Growing up I was never a huge fan of peas. Sure, if they were hidden in something like a soup or a chicken pot pie, I would eat them, but I never really liked them on their own. That all changed when I had fresh peas for the first time. Fresh peas are entirely different from their canned or frozen cousins. They are sweet and crunchy and require a little bit of work to earn that reward (although the most difficult thing about shelling peas is keeping up with rouge bouncers). With the recent peas, Katie and I wanted to make something quick and easy where the peas were the main flavor.

Crushed Peas with Sesame Dressing

1 1/2 cups peas already shelled or frozen and defrosted
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame seed paste)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 scallions, thinly sliced
Toasted pitas, cut into wedges, for serving



Cook peas: Have ready a colander and an ice bath, and bring a medium pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Blanche peas for 30 seconds (if you like them with a real residual snap) to 1 minute (for a slightly more yielding pea) and drain them, then immediately shocking them in the ice water. Drain the peas again and pat them dry on a large towel.



Crush peas: Using a potato or egg-masher (and hopefully not an annoying one like mine, with holes the exact size of peas!), muddler or meat pounder (be gentle!), lightly crush the peas. Aim for mixed textures, some left whole, most in halves and a few a little more broken up. Put them in a large bowl.

Make dressing: Whisk together tahini, yogurt, lemon juice, water, cumin, paprika and salt. You might be tempted, as I was, to swap the water with olive oil but don’t do it — it makes a horrible curdled mess you will be sad to have to toss.

Assemble: Mix peas with about 3 tablespoons of the dressing, to start, then add more to taste. Sprinkle with scallions. Heap pea mixture on toasted pita wedges.