Vegetable Pot Pie
A vegetarian pot pie built on roasting the root vegetables hard before they meet the sauce, rather than simmering them straight in it, since roasting drives off their water and browns their edges where simmering just waterlogs them into a pale, one-note mush. A proper roux-based velouté, built slowly with the vegetable stock rather than thickened at the last minute with cornflour, is what gives the sauce real body instead of a thin, starchy gloss.
Prep35 min
Cook70 min
Rest15 min
Servings6
Christoph's vegetable pot pie, the root vegetables roasted hard first so they brown instead of turning to mush in the sauce.
Ingredients
Written for a 22 cm round tin
Units
Temperature
Servings
Roasted vegetables
- 300 g carrots, peeled, cut into 2 cm chunks rounded
- 300 g waxy potatoes, peeled, cut into 2 cm chunks rounded
- 200 g parsnip, peeled, cut into 2 cm chunks rounded
- 40 ml olive oil rounded
- to taste fine salt rounded
Sauce
- 60 g butter rounded
- 150 g onion, finely chopped rounded
- 150 g celery, finely chopped rounded
- 60 g flour rounded
- 700 ml vegetable stock rounded
- 100 ml heavy cream rounded
- 150 g frozen peas rounded
- 10 g fresh thyme rounded
- to taste fine salt and black pepper rounded
Pastry
- 500 g puff pastry, ready-rolled, store-bought rounded
- 1 egg, beaten, for egg wash rounded
Dietary labels are a guide, not a guarantee. If you have an allergy, read the ingredients yourself.
Method
- Preheat the oven to 220°C (fan). Toss the carrots, potatoes and parsnip with the olive oil and salt on a sheet pan. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, turning once, until well browned at the edges and tender.
- Meanwhile, melt the butter in a wide pot over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook for 8 minutes, until soft.
- Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Gradually whisk in the stock, then the cream, until smooth. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Stir in the roasted vegetables, peas and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce the oven to 200°C (fan).
- Transfer the filling to a deep pie dish.
- Roll the puff pastry slightly larger than the dish and drape it over the filling, pressing the edges to seal against the rim. Trim the excess and crimp.
- Brush with beaten egg and cut a steam vent in the centre.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until puffed and deeply golden brown all over.
Method in the Thermomix
- Roast the vegetables in the oven as in the hand method, from step 1.
- Place the butter, onion and celery in the mixing bowl. Sauté 8 min/100°C/speed 1.
- Add the flour. Cook 2 min/100°C/speed 1. Add the stock and cream. Cook 10 min/90°C/speed 2, until thickened.
- Add the roasted vegetables, peas, thyme and seasoning. Mix 10 sec/reverse/speed 1. Continue as in the hand method, from step 5.
Notes
- Roast the root vegetables hard before they go anywhere near the sauce. Simmering raw vegetables straight in the sauce waterlogs them into a pale, one-note mush; roasting drives off their water and browns their edges, which carries into the finished pie as real flavour.
- Build the sauce properly with a roux rather than reaching for cornflour at the end. A slow roux-based velouté has real body; a last-minute cornflour thickener just gives a thin, starchy gloss over a watery sauce.
- Add the peas at the very end, off the heat if possible, so they stay bright and just tender rather than turning grey and mushy.
- It keeps and reheats well for 3 days.
Ingredient substitutions
- Sweet potato can replace some of the parsnip or carrot for a sweeter filling.
- A handful of chopped mushrooms, added with the onion and celery, is a good addition.
- Nutritional yeast, stirred into the sauce, adds a savoury depth if you’re leaving out cream.
From Christoph Mayer