Root Vegetable Pie

This was written in February of 2012, and I never got around to posting it.  It is the perfect recipe for winter vegetables, though, so I am sharing it now a year later!

Last week I got a giant CSA delivery: carrots, beets, rutabaga, winter greens, eggs, oats, apple cider vinegar, potatoes... and then I went snowboarding for 3 days and didn't even think about developing any new recipes.  So this week I'm pulling recipes from a few of my favorite bloggers to use up all of my vegetable loot.

Tuesday night I made Emily's Harvest Root Vegetable Pie I did make adjustment's to her original recipe, and here they are:

• 1.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 cup Earth Balance (vegan butter)
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 5-6 tbsp cold water (as needed)
• 5 cups of diced root vegetables (your choice!)- I used carrots, beets, white potatoes, and parsnips.
• olive oil (as needed)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced- I used two cloves because I did not use as many mushrooms.
• 2 shallots, minced- I used a very small red onion because it's all I had.  And I love onions. 
• 4 cups diced mushrooms- I used 2 cups, it was all I had.  It didn't affect the recipe at all. 
• 1/2 cup vegetable stock- I used about 1/4 cup of red wine to cook the mushrooms instead. 
• 4 cups cubed sweet potatoes- I used 2 cups.  My pie dish didn't look large enough to handle 4 cups. 
• 1/2 cup almond milk- Decreased to 1/4 cup since I cut the amount of sweet potatoes in half.
• 1 tbsp Earth Balance
• salt and pepper (to taste)

I tried to capture each of the four steps to making this pie:

The mushrooms (smelled so good I almost ate them straight out of the pan)...  

The roasted vegetables... 

The sweet potatoes...

...The finished product!

I'm hoping to make this again in the near future and update the pictures since these seem a little blurry and I'd like to take some photos of putting the pie together.

Vegetable Strudel

It's been a while since this veggie doc posted anything about veggies lately.  I've been in sort of a rut with cooking.  Veggie are expensive in the winter, I'm definitely craving heavy comfort foods, and my time has been limited.  Then of course I celebrated Valentine's Day this weekend with Ryan, and that involved exchanging candy, homemade nutella, and blondies, among a few other pretty things:

So for the sake of our health and the sugar overload we endured, I decided a veggie heavy recipe was in order this weekend.

Vegetable Strudel

you'll need:

• 1 box of phyllo dough sheets
• 1 large eggplant
• 2 zucchini
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 can artichoke hearts, drained
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• salt
• pepper
• olive oil
• Parmesan cheese

First, read your box of phyllo dough to plan on taking it out a few hours before you start cooking.  If you don't, you'll end up slightly frustrated and on the verge of tears as you attempt to defrost it in the microwave but end up with sheets that stick together in some spots, forcing you to piece together sheets as you go with the scraps you can save while your boyfriend stands along side of you trying to keep you from actually crying over something as silly as dinner.... he's really a saint sometimes.  

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. 

Chop all of your veggies into a small dice.  Put in large bowl, drizzle with olive oil, mix, and spread on a large (or 2 small) baking sheets.

Roast for about 20 minutes until veggies are starting to soften.  

When your phyllo has reached room temp and veggies are done roasting, you can begin prepping.  You'll need 6 sheets per strudel.  

As you are working, keep unused phyllo dough covered with damp rag or paper towel.

Lay one sheet down and brush or spray with a little bit of olive oil.  Sprinkle some parmesan on top.  Then add next layer of phyllo.  Repeat the olive oil/parmesan with each layer until you have used 6 layers of phyllo.

Spoon some of the vegetable mix into the center of your phyllo stack, leaving about 1-2 inches border around the edges.  

Fold the short edges up on each end and dab with some olive oil at the edges to help it stay put. 

Then begin rolling your strudel together from the longer side.

Place seam side down in a baking dish.  Repeat to make a second veggie strudel.  Brush top with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake for 20 minutes, then let cool for 5.

Cut into pieces and serve with tomato sauce for dipping.

I made this a few months ago as an appetizer for a party and it was gobbled up in minutes.  I've been waiting to have the time to make it again.  It was great for dinner and we ate the second strudel for lunch the next day.  Ryan said he loved the flavor and the crunchiness on top from the salt and pepper.

Stay tuned for a dish made with winter vegetables later in the week!