Bigly Vegetable Pot Pie
Prep
25m
Cook
45m
Total
70m
Bigly says
Listen. Pot pie. The greatest comfort food in the history of comfort foods, and that's a CROWDED leaderboard, you've got stews and casseroles and lasagnas all shoving each other for first place, all great, all welcome at my table, but the POT PIE is the king. King of cozy. King of Sunday. It is a buttery flaky golden HAT sitting on top of a stew, and I'll ask you, plainly, what beats that. Nothing beats that. Game over.
This is the all-vegetable version, and I want to be clear, this is not a sad concession, this is not an 'I guess I'll eat plants today' situation, this is a TRIUMPH. The mushrooms carry the savory load like champions. The carrots, peas, corn, and potatoes handle the chunky business. A velvety cream sauce holds the whole orchestra in tune. And on top — on TOP — a sheet of all-butter puff pastry that SHATTERS when the spoon goes in. The sound alone is incredible. Off the charts. I once made this for fourteen serious eaters at a winter party and they wept. Wept! Over vegetables. That's the power of a proper crust.
A quick word on the numbers, because numbers tell the story. A proper pot pie uses six vegetables minimum. SIX. Anything less is a soup with a hat. I've counted them on the Bigly version, twice — onion, carrot, celery, mushroom, potato, pea, corn — that's SEVEN, we're already over quota, that's the kind of operation we run here. The herbs? Thyme AND sage. Most so-called pot pie recipes give you one timid pinch of thyme and call it a day. Cowardly. A real pot pie needs herbs that announce themselves. The thyme should walk into the room. The sage should already be sitting at the table.
Ingredients
- 1 sheet (about 14 oz)all-butter puff pastry, thawed(all-butter, never the other stuff)
- 5 tbspunsalted butter
- 1 largeyellow onion, diced
- 3 mediumcarrots, peeled and diced
- 3 ribscelery, diced
- 8 ozcremini mushrooms, quartered
- 12 ozYukon gold potatoes, diced 1/2-inch
- 4 clovesgarlic, minced
- 1 tbspfresh thyme leaves
- 1 tspfresh sage, chopped
- 1/3 cupall-purpose flour
- 1/2 cupdry white wine
- 2.5 cupsvegetable broth
- 1 cupwhole milk
- 1/4 cupheavy cream
- 1 cupfrozen peas
- 3/4 cupfrozen corn
- 1 tbspDijon mustard
- 1.5 tsp, to tastekosher salt
- 1/2 tspblack pepper
- 1large egg, beaten with 1 tsp water(for egg wash)
Steps
- 1
Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).
- 2
Melt 2 tbsp of the butter in a large Dutch oven or oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook 6-8 minutes, undisturbed at first, until deeply browned. Transfer to a plate.
- 3
Add the remaining 3 tbsp butter to the pot. When melted, add onion, carrots, and celery. Cook 6-7 minutes until softened.
- 4
Add potatoes, garlic, thyme, and sage. Cook 2 more minutes, stirring.
- 5
Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes — this cooks out the raw flour taste.
- 6
Pour in the white wine, scraping the bottom of the pot. Let it reduce by half, about 1 minute.
- 7
Slowly whisk in the vegetable broth, then milk and cream. Bring to a simmer and cook 8-10 minutes, stirring often, until the potatoes are just tender and the sauce has thickened to coat a spoon.
- 8
Stir in the cooked mushrooms, peas, corn, and Dijon mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust.
- 9
Transfer filling to a 9x13 baking dish or a deep 10-inch pie dish (or leave in the oven-safe skillet). Let it cool for 10 minutes — pouring hot filling under cold pastry causes a soggy bottom.
- 10
Roll the puff pastry slightly larger than the dish. Drape over the filling, trim, and crimp or tuck edges. Cut 4 small vents in the top.
- 11
Brush the pastry with egg wash. Bake on a sheet pan (to catch drips) for 30-35 minutes, until the pastry is deep golden brown and the filling is bubbling at the vents.
- 12
Rest 10 minutes before serving. Spoon out portions, getting both pastry and filling in every scoop.
One more thing
That's the pot pie. The Bigly pot pie. The greatest comfort food experience you will have all winter, all year, possibly all DECADE depending on how often you make it, and I recommend often. Weekly. Maybe twice. Serve it with a simple green salad, or don't, you can stand at the stove with a spoon and eat directly from the dish, I've done it, I won't tell anyone, your secret is safe with me. Leftovers reheat beautifully in a 350 oven for 15 minutes. Microwave it if you must, but the pastry will lose its dignity, and that's on you. Now go eat.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about Bigly Vegetable Pot Pie.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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