vegan curried vegetable pot pie

For added inspiration, the hosts of Dark Days Challenge are posing smaller themed challenges (one-pot meal, valentine sweets, vegetarian meal, breakfast) within the larger challenge of eating local, sustainable food in the middle of winter.  This week's themed challenge was to create a one-pot meal and because I love my cast iron skillet and I love that you can pan fry with it or bake with it, I decided to do both with it.  I also decided to use coconut milk which is a very non-local choice, but it makes this dish vegan. Who knows, if I did the math, it could possibly have less of an environmental impact than dairy.  Has anyone done the math?

Filling Ingredients:
2 potatoes, diced
1 red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 oz. mushroom
1 c. frozen peas
1 c. frozen corn
black garbanzo beans, boiled
canola oil (not local)
salt (not local)
black pepper (not local)
1 T. sweet curry powder (not local)
1 T. hot curry powder (not local)
dash of apple cider vinegar (not local)
1 (14oz.) can coconut milk (not local)

Dough Ingredients:
whole wheat flour
cold water
canola oil (not local)
ground flax seed (not local)

Unfortunately, I ended up having a few extra dishes to clean up: a small pot and mixing bowl.  The small pot was for boiling the garbanzo beans but that was an easy clean.  I had to use a mixing bowl to mix the dough.  I also used the mixing bowl to pour out the cooked filling while I laid out a bottom crust though you could easily go with just a top crust.

boulder bourguignon

It is sad to see good restaurants close. One restaurant that I am missing these days is Sunflower Restaurant in downtown Boulder. Though it was a tad expensive, it served delicious, organic food that had a flavor profile to match the price (unlike some fancy restaurants). Just the other day, I had a craving for their "Boulder Bourguignon" so I attempted to recreate it. Do you have any favorite restaurants/dishes that you miss?

Bourguignon Ingredients:
16 oz. seitan, torn up bites
8 oz. tempeh, crumbled
6 T. soy sauce
6 T. maple syrup
2 T. vegan margarine
2 T. olive oil
liquid smoke
black pepper
2 T. flour
8 oz. yellow potato, cubed
8 oz. beet, peeled and cubed
4 oz. carrot, sliced
3 c. red wine
2-3 c. veggie broth
1 T. tomato paste
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. thyme
1 bay leaf
salt
8 oz. pearl onions
1 T. vegan margarine
1 T. olive oil
thyme
salt
black pepper
1/2 c. veggie broth
4 oz. small mushrooms

Creamy Polenta Ingredients:
8 c. water
2 c. coarse corn meal
2 T. vegan margarine
2 t. salt

If you don't know how, making seitan at home is super easy and cheap. I will post about the process sometime soon.

Heat seitan and tempeh in soy sauce, maple syrup, margarine, oil, and liquid smoke over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Turn the heat down to low and toss the seitan and tempeh in flour and black pepper. Let it cook for a few minutes. Transfer the seitan and tempeh to a 9x13 baking dish and add the potatoes, beets, carrots, red wine, veggie broth, tomato paste, garlic, thyme, bay leaf and salt. Mix. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 2 hours. Stir up the mixture every 30 minutes or so. You can add additional veggie broth if things start to dry out. Your goal is to have liquid covering everything.

30 minutes before the bourguignon finishes in the oven, saute pearl onions in oil, margarine, salt, pepper, and thyme until browned. Add 1/2 c. veggie brother and simmer with cover for 20 minutes. Add the mushrooms to the onions and continue to cook. When you take the bourguignon out of the oven, stir in the onions and mushrooms

Start the water boiling for the creamy polenta 30 minutes before the bourguignon comes out of the over. Once the water is boiling, stir in the coarse corn meal. Continue to stir for 20 minutes. Add margarine and salt.

Serve the bourguignon next to or on top of the creamy polenta and enjoy!!