Miniature Vegetable Pot Pies

For those that regularly read my blog, it is obvious that I am far from a baker.  As I have said before, I have some great cheesecakes, and can tear apart a muffin pan but beyond that, I struggle.

This time of the year I think fondly of my Nana.  She had the best pie recipes in the world.  I know most people think their Nana did but, they are wrong.  Sorry.  No one has ever been able to master her crust since.  I have tried and can never get it to roll out.  Thinking outside the box and knowing my limitations, I have opted to take baby steps.

Craving some nice holiday pot pie, I used my Nana's recipe with my filling and went for it.  The results were surprisingly awesome.  I think my Nana would have been proud.

Today I was very motivated to make something awesome.  Occasionally, I bring food with me to work and share them with my co-workers.  Many of my co-workers have read or regularly read my blog and we talk about food often.  The other day, I received a sweet and humorous text message from some co-workers.  I hope this does the trick!

Miniature Vegetable Pot Pies

Crust

2 cups of flour
1 cup of vegetable shortening
2 tablespoons of cold water (roughly)

In a large bowl, add the flour and shortening.  Gently, with a fork, fold the shortening into the flour.  The mixture will begin to get dry, add 1 tablespoon of water and continue to fold.  If the dough is sticking to the fork and is wet, add more flour.  If it is still dry, add more water, very little at a time.  I end up adding about 2 tablespoons but many people many need less.


Filling

4 cloves of garlic (chopped)
2 potatoes (cubed)
2 cups of water
1/2 cup of eggplant (peeled and chopped)
1/3 cup of peas
1/4 cup of corn
2 tablespoons of vegetable broth
1  1/2 tablespoons of oil
1 tablespoon of onion (chopped)
1 tablespoon of oregano
1 tablespoon of green pepper (chopped)
1 tablespoon of textured vegetable protein (TVP)
1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon of jalapeno pepper (chopped)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon of pepper

In a pot, bring the water to a boil and add the potatoes.  Boil for 20-ish minutes until the potatoes are soft.  Strain and set aside.

In a saute pan on low-med, add the oil, garlic, onion, and jalapeno pepper, and heat for 2-3 minutes.  The garlic will begin to give off a pleasant aroma.  Add the green pepper, corn, peas, eggplant, oregano, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper, and allow to fry for 4-5 minutes.  Add the TVP and vegetable broth and mix well.  Reduce the heat to low.  Allow the TVP to hydrate for about 5 minutes.  Add the potatoes and mash lightly.  This should not be mush but should not have large chucks of potato either.


Assembly

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Take about 2/3 cup of the dough and roll it out with a rolling pin.  With a biscuit cutter (or a jar, or any other circular utensil that you can either cut around or can itself cut) cut as many circles as you can out of the dough,  The max I could manage was 2.  I found the dough much easier to manage in smaller amounts, if you can roll it all out at once, feel free.  With a sharp ended spatula, pick up the circles and set them aside.

Once the dough has all been rolled out and cut (I was able to get 24 circles - 12 pies) take 1 1/2 tablespoons of the potato mixture and place in the center of half of the circles.  Gently pat the potato down so that is will fit.  There should be enough room on all sides to be able to connect the circle doughs.  There will be about half of the potato mixture remaining.  Eat it, it is good.

Once the potato is in half of your circles, take the circles that are empty and place them on top of the filled circles.  Gently, pinch all sides of the circles to seal the circle doughs together.  Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Serve with gravy.