February 22, 2010

Meatless Monday recipe: Vegetable Pie

Meatless Monday is a nonprofit initiative whose aim is to encourage people to go meatless one day a week, for their health and the health of the environment. Click here to find out all about it and to pledge to go meatless on Mondays. When you sign up, you'll receive a weekly email of delicious meatless recipes.

Today I'm going to share one of my favorite winter meatless meals. It comes from the Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen, and when you're looking for vegetarian comfort food, this recipe fits the bill. I recently made it for a friend's birthday with our fresh CSA vegetables, and it was even more delicious than the original recipe.

Old Country Pie

serves 4

1 unbaked 9- or 10-inch pie crust
1 Tbsp. butter or oil
1 1/2 cups minced onion
1 tsp. caraway seeds
1 tsp. salt
1/2 lb. mushroom, chopped or sliced
1 1/2 cups shredded cabbage
1 medium stalk broccoli, chopped
1 medium carrot, thinly sliced
2 tsp. dill
lots of black pepper
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup cottage cheese (lowfat ok)
2 eggs
2 medium scallions, finely minced
optional: 3/4 cup sour cream or yogurt; paprika

1) Prepare pie crust. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Melt butter (or heat oil) in a medium-sized skillet. Add onion, caraway, and salt, and saute over medium heat until the onions begin to brown (10 to 15 minutes).
3) Add mushrooms, cabbage, broccoli, carrot, and dill, and saute until everything is just tender- about 8 more minutes.
4) Stir in black pepper, garlic, and flour, and cook, stirring, for just a few minutes more. Remove from heat.
5) Beat together cottage cheese and eggs. Add this to the saute along with the scallions and mix well.
6) Spread into the unbaked crust and, if desired, top with a layer of sour cream or yogurt. Sprinkle with paprika, and bake for 40 minutes or until set. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

This last time I used what I had from the CSA, so I left out the mushrooms and cabbage, and used 3 carrots, 2 stalks of broccoli, and about half a bunch of kale. The colors were gorgeous and the flavor was fantastic. I covered the top with a light layer of sour cream and sprinkled with paprika. I think you could use just about any vegetables you like, but don't leave out the caraway seeds or the dill, they're what give the dish its distinctive taste.

What are your favorite meatless comfort foods? Please leave your ideas in the Comments section and I'll include them in the next Meatless Monday post.

9 comments:

Catherine said...

Can't beat mac & cheese:

http://www.thekindlife.com/post/mac-cheese

Or take a shortcut with Road's End Organics boxed vegan mac & cheese (I often do). It's at Whole Foods, health food stores or the natural foods aisle at the supermarket.

Lentil Shepherd's Pie is the ultimate comfort food on a cold blustery night. Apologies for cutting the link in half to make it fit:


http://vegetarian.about.com/od/
maindishentreerecipes/r/lentilpie.htm

Kristen@TheFrugalGirl said...

Angela! Did you see that your blog was included in my TV piece today? yay!

Angela said...

Catherine- OH, thank you! We love all different types of mac and cheese, and also are big fans of both lentils and savory pies, so we will definitely be trying these!

Kristen- What? Wow- Now I really can't wait to see it! I was just reading your other comment on the Jane Austen Ball post, and said I hadn't been able to see it yet because I'm at work and when I started playing the clip it was too loud and so I decided to watch it tonight. I'll be able to see it soon- I can leave in less than an hour.

Emily, Bob, Etta & Mae said...

Tonight we had (from the Good Housekeeping Feb. 2010 issue)

Winter Vegetable Pot Pie

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/winter-vegetable-pot-pie-recipe?click=recipe_sr

It was SUPER tasty. And I guess that it is not COMPLETELY vegetarian because you use chicken broth, but I am assuming that you could use vegetable broth just as easily. Even my husband really liked it!

Alea Milham said...

Old Country Pie sounds really good; I think I will try it next week.

I tried a vegetarian soup tonight, but I wasn't crazy about it. I am glad you regularly do Meatless Monday posts. I've had several people ask me for meatless meal suggestions for Lent and I just tell them to come here. It is a wonderful resource.

Bean said...

I saw your shout out in the FG video, how cool for you!

Jane said...

Hi, I just gave you an award - hope you get a moment to swing by my blog and pick it up :) - Jane

Vanessa said...

I've been inspired to go Meatless on Mondays too. Thanks

Leasmom said...

Yummy, sounds great!