Runner Bean Pie

Runner Bean Pie & Vegan Mofo Day 4

Firstly, apologies for the photographs, they really don't do this dish justice! It really was delicious, more so than it looks. Put it another way even though I've now got a freezer, I'm not freezing any as I'm going to take some to work tomorrow for lunch and save the rest for the weekend! I actually went back for seconds too!

My runner bean plants aren't thriving as they have done for the past few years but I think perhaps my seeds are a little too old. Four years ago I had an amazing harvest, I mean I was picking handfuls every morning, I was giving them away (no freezer in those days)! No beans were "stringy" and the taste was out of this world. I would literally eat bowls full of 'just cooked' beans with a splash of vinegar for lunch and dinner! The beans were that good that I decided to let some beans get really big and dry on the plant, once the harvest season was over. Once the beans had dried I removed the bean from the pod and stored in jam jars in a dark cupboard in my shed. The next season I used these beans to grow my next crop. I've been doing this ever since. Last year I did have an amazing crop but I did notice that if a bean was left on the plant for just one day more than I would have liked it did start to become a little stringy. AND there is nothing worse than finding a stringy bean on your plate! Trust me, it puts me right off!

This was my first harvest of the year and I must admit I did have to throw away a couple of beans. When I say throw away I mean on my compost, nothing gets wasted here! So next year I think I will treat myself to some new beans to sow. Unless anyone out there want to do a seed swap? Get in touch if you do!

OK So on to the recipe.


Ingredients
335g Runner beans, top & tailed weight (a good handful)
750g potatoes, peeled
350ml Almond milk (non sweetened)
1½ Tbsp Vitalite

250ml Water
75g Cashews
2 Tsp Porcini powder
4 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
1 Mushroom stock cube (I used Kallo organic)

Method

Cook the potatoes in boiling water until s knife pierces them easily. Drain and leave in the pan to steam dry for about 5 minutes. This removes the excess moisture.

Mash the potatoes with 100ml of the almond milk and 1 Tbsp of the Vitalite until creamy and lump free.

While the potatoes are cooking place the prepared runner beans in a pan of boiling water and bring back to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, or until they are al dente, you don't want to cook them too much, they taste better with a little bight in my opinion. Drain and transfer to an oven proof dish.

Saute the mushrooms in the remaining ½ Tbsp of Vitalite for 5 minutes and transfer to the oven dish with the beans.

Add the remaining 250ml of almond milk to a blender along with the last 5 ingredients and blitz until you have a sauce like consistency. Don't worry if you think the sauce is too thin it will thicken up as it heats up. Pour the sauce over the runner beans and mushrooms and top with the mas potato.

Bake in a moderate oven for 30 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling and the potatoes are golden brown.

Now, don't judge me here, but I ate mine with baked beans! I don't know what it is but I love creamy sauces and baked beans together! If you don't agree with my taste buds then serve with extra vegetables.

Mushroom and Kale Pie

Last bank holiday weekend we had some friends visit us which we hadn't seen for a while, since their wedding last August. We decided to stay in and catch up as it was the first time our dog, Marco had met their dog, Milly. We had nothing to worry about, they got on famously and Marco was even a little love sick after they left! Bless him.

We had a fabulous weekend full of fun and laughter, it was great to catch up and hopefully we won't leave it as long next time!

Earlier in the day my sister and I visited Stone Farmers Market and picked up some goodies for lunch and tea. I headed straight to the mushroom man and bought a large tray of assorted mushrooms to make for dinner. 

Ingredients  

1 Tbsp Olive oil
1 Leek, sliced
400g assorted mushrooms, wiped and sliced
1 Tbsp Soy sauce
100g Curly kale, shredded
2 Tsp Porcini powder
2 Sprigs fresh rosemary, finely diced
2 Sprigs fresh tyhme, leaves only
1 Tbsp Flour (heaped)
300ml Unsweetened almond milk
320g Ready rolled puff pastry



Method

Saute the leek in the olive oil until tender around 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and saute for another 5 minutes, add the soy sauce.

Add the kale and continue to saute for another 5 minutes before adding the fresh herbs, stir to combine.

Add the flour and stir through, cooking for another minute to loose the flour taste.

Slowly add the almond milk and keep over a low heat stirring until the sauce has thickened.

Transfer to an oven proof dish and top with the ready rolled puff pastry. Bake for 30 minutes in a moderate oven. Serve with home made chips and peas.

Specials Board: Spinach & Mushroom Pie

Are you new to Nutritional yeast? Before transferring to a vegan lifestyle I had never heard of it, but now, I can't be without it, which reminds me I must add it to my shopping list as I'm running low.

If you've never tried Nutritional Yeast before, you must give it a go. It's lovingly known as "Nooch" and it adds a savoury almost 'cheesey' taste to dishes. I use it in soups, pasta sauces, houmous and pies, it's extremely versatile and can be added to anything.

The brand I use is Engevita Marigold Yeast Flakes with Vitamin B12 and most health shops will sell it or order it in for you. Of course there are plenty of online stores too.

Today's special is Spinach and Mushroom Pie which has a creamy filling topped with mashed potatoes, perfect for Sunday lunch.

Ingredients - Serves 2

1 Tbsp Olive oil
1 Onion, finely diced
1 Clove of garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp Soy sauce
260g Mixed mushrooms, diced
150g Spinach, roughly shredded
1 Tbsp Flour
200ml Almond milk, unsweetened
3 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast (Nooch)
300g Mashed potatoes*
1 Tsp Wholegrain mustard

* I already had some left over mash which I used for this recipe, which weighed 300g. You could top your pies with more mash if you prefer. I always make mine with a little Vitalite, salt and pepper and a splash of unsweetened almond milk.

Method

Fry the onion in the olive oil for 5 minutes or until translucent, add the garlic and fry for another minute, be careful not to burn it.

Add the diced mushrooms to the pan along with the soy sauce and for another 5 minutes, adding a little water if things start to stick.

Add the spinach and cook until it has wilted, about 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the spinach and mushroom mixture and stir to combine.

Gradually add the almond milk stirring continuously and cook over a low heat until the mixture thickens. Add the nutritional yeast and stir until it has dissolved into the mixture. Transfer to a baking dish or two individual portion dishes.

Add the wholegrain mustard to the mashed potatoes and stir through so that the mustard is evenly distributed. Spoon the mash on top of the spinach and mushroom filling and bake in a moderate oven for 20-30 minutes.

Summer Vegetable Pie

This is becoming a regular feature of my blog, no not vegetable pie, but the fact that I haven't shopped! I really need to get more organised. In fact in a conversation with my sister yesterday I was saying just that. I used to be the most organised person I knew, but this has lapsed a little. 

I need to start with going shopping and buy some fresh fruit and vegetables of all colours and then I will be in heaven cooking up some vegan magic!

Anyhow, enough waffle, back to what I managed to magic up for tea. I'd told Hubby to pick something up for his dinner on the way home, so at least I hadn't got to magic up two dinners. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw in his shopping bag was a small bag of frozen peas and some mushrooms! 

After a quick check of my cupboards and fridge this is what I had.

As you can see the courgette and red pepper were a little worse for wear and needed eating up! The pastry suggested that tonight's dinner would either be a tart, a puff or a pie. I went with the pie. First I chopped up all the vegetables and measured out half the bag of frozen peas, after all I needed to leave some for Hubby!

Next, saute the vegetables in a little olive oil, onions first, then peppers, mushrooms and courgettes. I added a clove of minced garlic too. I also added 4 shredded sage leaves, a rosemary sprig finely chopped and some thyme from my garden.

Whilst the vegetables were cooking, I quickly made up a sauce. In a pan add soy milk, plain flour and vitalite (sorry didn't measure, just threw it in). As it thickens add 3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast, a teaspoon of herbamare (a herbal seasoning salt), half a teaspoon of vegetable bouillon powder, freshly ground black pepper and about 10 chive stalks finely chopped. Add the sauce to the vegetables and stir through.

Next, pour this mixture into an oven proof dish and top with the pastry. I only used half of the pastry so there's some more left for another day. Bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

This made three good sized portions, if you were serving it with potato or chips you could easily make four servings. I ate my portion as it is, on its own.

Artichoke, Butterbean & Olive Pie

I hadn't shopped for over a week, and if I'm honest the thought of driving to the supermarket and then walking round the busy aisles did not appeal to me today! So, once again I raided my store cupboards and fridge of things that I could use and needed using up. I do like a challenge. My cupboards were opened and the items that I chose included, a jar of sundried tomatoes and a tin of butterbeans. Next stop was the fridge, and it was rather bare to say the least, but I found a small jar of black chopped olives, a jar of artichokes, a lemon, 6 garlic and lemon olives, a packet of filo pastry and some bedraggled salad.

The next bit was the interesting bit, what could I make with these ingredients plus any herbs or spices that I had. If I was to use the filo pastry it needed to be a pie type dinner, but I didn't want anything rich and heavy, so a squeeze of lemon should help with that I thought.

After staring at the ingredients for what seemed like an age I decided that the butterbeans would be the main ingredient of the pie as this was the ingredient I had the most of, and the other ingredients would perk them up. And so artichoke, butterbean and olive pie was born.

Ingredients

2 small onions

1 Can of butterbeans

6 Sundried tomatoes

6 garlic and lemon olives

3 Tsp chopped black olives

120g Artichoke pieces

½ Lemon

1 Tsp garlic granules

Leaves from 3 stems of basil

Salt and Pepper

2 Sheets filo pastry

Method

Saute the onions in a little olive oil, until translucent, about five minutes. Whilst the onions are cooking drain the butterbeans and put ¾ of the tin in a food processor and blitz. The other ¼ of the tin cut each bean in half. This gives a little texture to the filling.  Add the beans and lemon juice to the onions and stir to combine thoroughly. Cut the sundried tomatoes into slithers, the garlic and lemon olives in half and dice the artichokes. Add to the butterbean and onion mixture with the chopped black olives and stir to combine. Finely shred the basil leaves and add to the mixture with the garlic granules, salt and pepper. Take off the heat and mix so every ingredient is distributed evenly throughout the mixture. 

Spray a small oven dish with a little oil and place 1 sheet of filo pastry over the dish, pushing the pastry into the sides and bottom of the dish but leaving the remaining pastry hanging over the side. Spray this sheet of filo with a little more oil and place the other sheet of filo pastry on top but at a 90° angle, so you have a cross and there is filo pastry hanging over each of the four sides of your dish. Transfer the butterbean filling into the dish and fold the pastry over the top to incase the filling completely.

Bake the pie in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 15-20 minutes or until the filo pastry is golden and crispy on top. Serve with a garden salad, I used lettuce, rocket, cucumber, tomatoes and avocado drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Enjoy.

St Patrick's Pie

OK I may be a day or so late with this one! But after I'd made the pie I couldn't call it anything else it was full of greens. On returning home from work tonight my lovely friend gave me a bag of olives that she had bought at the edible garden show. They looked lovely and the cogs started turning as to what I could do with them. Of course, I could have eaten them on there own and I did eat a couple whilst contemplating what I could make. The first thing that sprung to mind was to make an olive tapenade, delicious as it is these olives needed to be turned into tonight's tea. I also had a delivery of my weekly graze box and lo and behold there were some more olives included in this weeks box. Both green and black in a lemon and rosemary dressing.

I raided my fridge to see what else I had or needed using up. I found half a bag of spinach and kale, some peas and a packet of purple sprouting broccoli. I've never bought purple sprouting broccoli before as its a regular in my raised garden but unfortunately last years plants haven't yet produced any and the local supermarket was selling it at a reduced price. I also had a packet of ready rolled puff pastry, the jus-roll is vegan, I bet you didn't know that!

No herbs or spices were added as I wanted the taste of the olives to shine

So that was it, St. Patrick's pie was born. Here's what I did:

Ingredients

½ packet of jus-roll puff pastry
1 oinion, sliced
1 packet of purple sprouting broccoli
Handful of frozen peas
30 mixed olives*
½ packet of mixed spinach and kale
400ml soy milk
1 tbsp plain flour
Salt and pepper

* The olives given to me also contained pickled garlic, jalapenos and peppers



Method

Saute the onion in a little olive oil until translucent, then add the purple sprouting broccoli and stir fry for around 5 minutes until the broccoli has softened. Add the washed spinach and kale and stir till the leaves have wilted. Add the frozen peas, and stir to combine. Be careful not to mash up the purple sprouting broccoli. Add the flour and mix thoroughly, then slowly add the soy milk, stirring all the time. Cook until thickened and add the olives, salt and pepper. Pour into an oven proof dish and top with the puff pastry. Bake in a moderate oven for 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden. Serve with a green avocado salad, dressed with lemon juice and olive oil.

Vegetable Filo Pie

I was in the mood for cooking up a storm, the slow cooker was on for hubby's tea (this piece of equipment is an absolute god send for cooking his food. I just throw the ingredients in and turn it on)! I fancied something that was full of vegetables with a creamy sauce and this is what I concocted, it was very tasty, filling and filled the craving.

Ingredients
1 large carrot
1 large onion
½ head of cauliflower
½ head of broccoli
150g green beans
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp English mustard
1 tbsp flour
4 tbsp nutritional yeast (or more if you want a more 'cheesy taste')
500ml soy milk
Salt and pepper
Filo pastry x 4 sheets

Method
Turn on your oven to 180°C. Dice the onion and carrot and cut the cauliflower and broccoli into small florets. Saute the onion in a little olive oil for 3 minutes and add the rest of the vegetables. Continue to saute until the vegetables start to go soft. Add the thyme and mustard and stir to combine thoroughly. Next add the flour and stir to combine, cook for a couple of minutes. Slowly add the milk whilst stirring until all the milk has been added. Next add the nutritional yeast and stir through the mixture. Slowly bring to a simmer and the mixture will start to thicken. Add salt and pepper to taste. Try a little and add more mustard, nutritional yeast or salt and pepper to your desired taste. Spoon into a baking dish and lay the filo over the top creating waves in the pastry. Bake for 20-25 minutes in the oven. Whilst the pie is in the oven boil some potatoes ready to mash to serve with the pie.