Savory Pot Pies

Hannah of Rise and Shine was our October 2013 Daring Bakers’ hostess and she challenged us to bake our own double crusted savory pot pies. Using any from-scratch crust and filling we choose, we were allowed to get completely creative with our recipe, showing off the savory flavors and fillings from our own home or region.

So, finally its Autumn in USA. Frankly, I just hate winters here because I want the sun to be up till late and we get to go outdoors. But, the moment Autumn is here I start loving everything. Those cold mornings, when you don’t want to get up from bed and just cuddle your pooch. I don’t have a dog. I so desperately want one. In this type of weather you want to have a hot chocolate or nice hot chai with ginger. But, in reality I have to rush early morning for me to catch a train.

Another delicious and tasty dish that anyone can make during winters are pot pies. I absolutely love the idea of pot pies. They come together really easily, at least for me and then they are filling also in terms of dinner. Serve it with salad or wine on the side. Previously, before the challenge I had tried individual pot pie with leftover Pav Bhaji Masala. Pav Bhaji is an Indian dish served street side or in cafeteria widely in Bombay. It has a mash of vegetables with some spices and cooked on a griddle and served with hot dinner rolls and some chopped onions salad. Perfect cold weather meal. So, I made pot pie from leftover bhaji- the vegetable mash and covered it with store bought puff pastry. It came out so good.

This time around when Hannah from Daring baker’s announced the challenge,  I thought of making same Bhaji pot pie but decided to go with Pizza pot pie. I loved how the crust came out without using the shortening.  I used butter instead. so, here’s the recipe of the Savory Pizza pot pie.

Ingredients:  For the Crust

21/2 cup   3 cups All-Purpose Flour

1 Tbsp   Sugar/Brown Sugar

11/2 Tsp Salt

1 – 1/2 Stick Cold Butter

1/4 cup Grated Cheddar Cheese (optional)

1/4-1/2 cup ice cold water

Ingredients: For the Filling 

1 cup Tomato sauce

2 or more tbsp Heavy Cream

2 Tbsp Ricotta

2 Tsp garlic powder

Herbs of your choice – I used fresh basil as well some dried basil, oregano powder

Salt to taste

Freshly Grated black Pepper as per taste

2 cups  Vegetables/fruits – Red and green bell pepper, Broccoli, onions, Pineapple, Black olives

1 cup Grated mozzarella cheese

Method:

Mix Flour, salt and Sugar together. Grate the cold butter into the flour mix and try to make pea sized crumbs. Add in the grated cheddar cheese also. Then gradually knead dough by adding ice cold water. Only add water as much as you need it. Do not form soft dough. Try to just gather it all together. Divide it into two equal portions and plastic wrap it and leave it in the fridge for about an hour or you can also prepare it in advance and leave it in the fridge for longer time.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Take tomato sauce in a bowl, add in the ricotta cheese, heavy cream and herbs, garlic powder. Season it with salt and freshly grated pepper.  Mix it well.

Add the chopped vegetables into the tomato sauce mix and mix it well again.

When you are ready to assemble everything. Preheat the oven at 375 F. Take out the pie dough from fridge and roll it out. Use dry flour if needed. I roll it out on a parchment paper with some flour. Till you roll one portion of dough , keep the other in the fridge. Fold it into a triangle to gather and place it into a pie pan or in my case I used a tart pan. Prick it with a fork so it won’t rise while baking.

Add the filling into it and roll out another portion of dough to cover the pie. Make slits on the top of the pie. You can also eggwash the crust but I just avoided it.

Bake it at 375 F for about 30-40 minutes or till the crust looks perfectly golden in color.

Bring it out and serve it when it is still warm or hot.