. 

• 2 leeks, sliced
• half an onion, diced
• 1 russet potato, cubed
• 1 carrot, cubed
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/4 cup peas
• 1/4 cup green beans
• 100ml creme fraiche
• 1 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tsp mustard
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 3 small bay leaves
• butter, 2 big knobs
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• egg (or milk) for glazing
• optional: 3/4 cup t.v.p. cubes ( click here if you are unfamiliar with tvp )

This pie is kind of like a bastardization of a ham and leek pie mixed with a good ole classic chicken pot pie…made for a vegetarian. It’s one our our faves.

Cut up your potato, carrot, onion. If making a mock chicken pie, take this time to soak your t.v.p. cubes in cooled veg broth to rehydrate and set aside.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Slice up your leek. Leek is a pain to clean, if you have never cleaned and prepared a leek click here. Sautee leek and onion on low, covered, with a couple tablespoons of butter for 10 minutes. Add potato, carrots, peas and herbs, pepper. Cook for another 10 minutes. Dig out your bay leaves.

Stir in your flour to coat the veg (and t.v.p. cubes if using). Gently stir in broth. Stir until it all thickens nicely. Take a minute to smack on your saliva for a sec and this is the sound it should be making when it’s ready…sorry that was kinda gross…how bout this, it’s like mayonaisse on a potato. If it’s too watery you should’ve stopped pouring the broth before that happened but you can salvage by stirring in a bit more flour (I am a master of unadvisable corner-cutting methods of repairing meals, this is one of them, if you wanted to do it properly you would make a floury paste, add a bit of the broth and then stir it back in slowly – what a bore). If it’s too globby, add more broth but not too much because you will be adding cream too. Remove from heat. Stir in the cream fraiche, add your mustard, and season to taste. Stir.

Roll out a lid to fit the size of your baking dish (I usually do this in my 8×8 pyrex) Puff should be about a quuarter of an inch thick. Also, cut 4 strips of puff for the circumference of your dish and about an inch wide and place on the edges of your baking dish. Put in filling. Egg your edge strips and place the puff lid on top, press it in a bit with your fingers or a fork. Fluff out the edges with a knife to get more puff-age and then cut a couple slits on top and pop a few bay leaves on there for decoration. Brush with egg. Bake for 25 minutes (if it get’s a little to brown looking on top you can always pop a bit of aluminium foil on top.