Pie Making, etc.

Hello dear reader(s?)!

So, you might be wondering where I have been all these months, maybe you've even wondered if Veg had abandoned you forever. Or maybe you haven't . . . . Either way, the blog has been so quiet because I went back to University this past fall. It's something I had wanted to do for a few years now, and I'm really loving every minute of it. However, between school and my job and my attempts to continue having a life, something had to give and sadly it was the blog. I do have lots of new recipes, and some of them will surely make their way onto the blog at some point, but since September it's been "eat when you can eat" and not "eat after arranging your food nicely and taking pictures of it", ya know?

To keep myself sane-ish through all the stressed-out, sleep-deprived, how-the-heck-do-you-make-an-APA-reference-list weeks, I have made a point each weekend to make a pie. Pie making is great for sanity, because it forces you to slow down and be in what you're doing - making a pie.

As some of you surely know, the lovely ladies of The Post Punk Kitchen recently released a new book all about making vegan pies, Vegan Pie In The Sky. When it arrived, on a cold, blustery Autumn day, as my head was spinning from hundreds of pages of reading, that's when I knew - I was to bake my way through this book with whatever time I could spare. And thus, my weekend pie making adventure was born.

So, I'm going to tell you a little about my experience making some of the pies from this book. I'm not going to tell you the recipes, you can get the book yourself (and you should!). The PPK website has some sample recipes from the book, including three of the pies I have tried, so if you're not convinced that this book is a good investment, give 'em a try and see!

Without further ado;

Week 1 - Maple Pecan Pie

Up front, this was the first pie I made and it may be my favourite. There really isn't even much to say about this pie other than it was incredibly delicious and relatively easy to make. Admittedly, the crust was only so-so (I've been generally displeased with how the crusts from this book turn out, but more on that later), but the rest of the pie was soooooo good that honestly in this case the crust just didn't matter that much. And if you think that is a completely blasphemous thing to say, full disclosure, I am a crust girl. Generally when I'm eating a pie, the crust is all I'm really caring about. I will savour every last bite of crust, often scooping out filing and eating it, just so that I will be left with perfect little bites of (vegan) buttery, flakey goodness. So, when I say that crust is not the star of this pie, I really mean it.

And lucky you, this is one of the sample recipes on The PPK. Click here to enjoy!

Week 2 - Key Lime Pie

I was so excited for this pie, like kid-on-xmas-morning excited, and after my sterling success with the maple pecan pie, I was feeling pretty sure of my pie making abilities. But then tragedy struck! After making the filling and putting it in the fridge for three hours to set, it was still a pie pan of liquidy-lime goo! So, I waited. Six, seven, eight hours went by and the filling was no more solid than when I had poured it over the crust all those hours earlier. So, I put the pie in the freezer. It firmed up and became a very enjoyable freezer dessert. Not quite the creamy key lime pie I had dreamed of, but all's well that ends well, right?

After much thought on what went wrong, I've decided the most likely culprit was the agar agar. I used agar agar flakes, as it was what I had on hand, instead of agar agar powder. I'm pretty sure that was my fatal error, so please learn from my mistake dear reader. Don't cheap it on the little, but important ingredients!

And just a note on the crust - This pie had a cookie crust, as did the next few, and I have found the cookie crust and it's variations in the book very reliable. I have just been disappointed in the traditional pie crust recipes in the book, three of which I have tried so far - The Single (and Lovin' It) Pastry Crust, The Olive Oil Double Crust and The Puffy Pie Dough. I've already mentioned the first one, which went with the maple pecan pie, and I'll get to the others shortly.

Week 3 - Chocolate Galaxy Banana Cheesecake

Right now you're like, "What?!?!? I thought this was a post about pie?" but many a cheesecake is included in Vegan Pie In The Sky, and why not? They are round, they have crusts, they are eaten in pie-shaped slices. I had never thought about it before this book, but now I'm all up on the cheesecake-as-pie craze.

And the cheesecake recipes in this book are some of the best I have ever come across. Instead of using several (expensive!) tubs of Tufutti, the creamy cheesecake texture comes from a combination of silken tofu, mashed banana and soaked cashews. Blend it all up with a few other things and you have a truly delicious, authentic and economical cheesecake.

This cake/pie was great! I'm not sure why it jumped out at me, because I'm not that into bananas generally. I mean, I'll put them in my smoothie, but you won't catch me gleefully eating banana bread or anything. But I loved this cake/pie! Creamy banana cheesecake, with pretty swirls of chocolate on a chocolate cookie crust, yes please! Actually writing about it is really making me want to make another one!

Week 4 - Pumpkin Cheesecake

Again, delicious. Not much more to say about this one. It was awesome. Mind-blowing, even. Take a look for yourself here, and then make one of your own!

Week 5 - Old Fashioned Chocolate Pudding Pie

This one was good and easy to make, but it made me remember that I don't like pudding. It's been so long and the photo that accompanied that recipe looked so good (as evidenced here) that I just had to have it. But then it came to eating it, and I was like "oh yeah, the texture of pudding totally makes me gag!" So, if you love pudding, you should make this pie (and you can with the link above). If you don't like pudding, then move along.

Week 6 - Apple Crisp

I had some company the night that I made this crisp, and the poor thing did not survive to see the light of day. Simple, comforting, delicious. Everyone went back for seconds and thirds, with good reason. Not that I have ever met a crisp I didn't like, they are pretty hard to screw up. But this one . . . . well, you'll just have to try it for yourself and see. Sadly, there is no recipe link for this one, so let's just call it incentive to get yourself a copy of this amazing book!

Week 7 - Cosmos Apple Pie

The filling of this pie was excellent. The crust so-so, and unlike the maple pecan pie, the insides just didn't make up for the outsides for me. I used the olive oil double crust for this one. I found it difficult to work with, especially in rolling out and the end result wasn't flaky at all. It turned out thin and kinda hard. However, overall this was still an enjoyable pie.

The recipe made way too much filling though, so I put the left over in the fridge for the following week (Week 8). When time came I was just going to make a second apple pie, but then realized there wasn't quite enough apples to fill a whole pie. So I dumped in some mixed frozen berries and waited to see what would happen. The results were amazing! Seriously one of the best pies I have ever tried. I have always been partial to berry pies, but something really magical happened when the berries and apples met inside that pie.

It wasn't until a couple days ago when I was flipping through the book, looking for my next pie conquest that I realized I had inadvertently made the Appleberry Pie! Well, sort of. Because I had started out with apple already seasoned for apple pie and just dumped in the mixed berries, it wasn't the exact recipe. Still, the same idea.

And because I'm open-minded, I wasn't ready to write off the olive oil crust. I gave it another shot with the "appleberry" pie, with a few tweaks, but I was still not happy with the results. Sadly, I think I won't be using the crust recipes from the book anymore. I will enjoy the delicious filling recipes in my old-reliable pie crust. I've mentioned it here before, but I'll say it again, the Flaky Pie Crust from Colleen Patrick-Gourdreau's Joy of Vegan Baking is my go-to crust and the best vegan pie crust I have ever tried. So while you're at the store grabbing your copy of Vegan Pie In The Sky, grab The Joy of Vegan Baking too, and become a vegan baking god!

Week 9 - Figgy Apple Hand Pies


It's actually unfortunate to be finishing here, because these were the disappointment of the bunch. From the Washington Post to The PPK 100, everyone seems to have agreed hand pies are the next big thing in potable desserts. However, my first attempt at the palm-sized treats didn't go quite as I had imagined. All week I had been looking forward to the weekend, dreaming of the flaky/sweet/gooey delights in store. So, maybe the end result was even more crushing than it would have been if I were just making a regular-sized pie. Who knows?

They weren't  . . . bad . . . . They were just . . . not good. The crust (the puffy pastry dough) was hard and dry, not flaky as I'd expected. The filling was very tasty, but not gooey enough to counteract the dryness of the crust. At first, I thought maybe I should have eaten them right out of the oven, and letting them cool was a mistake. However, they were actually better the following day. Not that they became great over night, they were just somehow better.

There are several hand pie recipes in the book and I'm not ready to give up yet. Hopefully I get some decent hand pies soon, before the fickle dessert-eating-public moves on to eclairs or whatever.

I'll try to keep you guys posted on my pie making, I'm sure there are many more delicious spheres of pastry to come. And one of these days you just might get a new recipe, too!

Veg Jenski xo

Spinach Pie Two Ways

Spinacea oleracea, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways . . . In dips and salads, in smoothies and soups, in curries and spanakopita, in wraps and . . . Pie!

Yup, me and spinach, we love each other – well, maybe it’s only a one-way love affair, but it’s passionate nonetheless. So, it being early spring – the best time to get local spinach – I obviously wanted to feature my beloved leafy green.

Spinach contains more protein than other leafy greens and is chalk full of tons of vitamins (A, B, C, K) and minerals (phosphorous, iodine, magnesium, calcium, potassium and iron). It is important to note that spinach looses certain minerals in the cooking process – calcium, for example – so make sure to eat plenty of raw spinach in wraps, smoothies and salads.

Make sure to clean spinach well before using (yes, even that “triple washed” clamshell kind) and always – ALWAYS – buy organic. I’m not super diligent about organic for everything, but conventional spinach is notoriously sprayed with all kinds of nasty things, so organic is a must. And as always buy local whenever possible!

Spinach can be thrown into just about anything – toss some baby leaves into your next salad, blend it along with fruit and berries for an extra nutritious smoothie, toss it in to any soup, stew or curry in the last few minutes of cooking, or you can even use a big leaf as a wrap, filling it with hummus and your favourite veggies. 

Clearly, what's not to love?

When I started work on this week’s recipe, I knew I wanted to make a vegan quiche that didn’t dress tofu up as eggs, and of course when I thought quiche I thought spinach. I came up with two drastically different takes on the concept and I couldn’t decide which I liked better, so I have decided to share two recipes with you this week: Italian Spinach Pie & West Indian Spinach Pie.

The Italian take, has a creamy sauce and is bursting with some of my favourite things – fresh basil, cremini mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes – while the West Indian version has a sweet coconut curry twist and a gorgeous orange colour.

For the crust I used the “Flaky Pie Crust” from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s The Joy Of Vegan Baking, omitting the sugar, but you can use any pie crust you fancy. I do highly recommend Ms. Patrick-Goudreau’s crust though, so go pick up her book! (I also just highly recommend her in general, so if you don’t know her check her out!).

Here are the recipes and the more recipe specific notes:

Italian Spinach Pie

1 prepared, pre-baked (or blind baked) pie crust

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium leek, sliced lengthwise and chopped

3 - 4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups cremini mushrooms, stemmed and quartered

2 tbsp vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance soy-free)

2 tbsp flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp dried basil

1 scant cup almond milk, or nondairy milk of your choice

1 cup fresh basil leaves, tightly packed

4 - 4 1/2 cups spinach leaves

4 sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 425º

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the leeks and garlic, and sauté until the leeks begin to soften and the mixture become fragrant, about 3 - 4 minutes. Add the mushrooms and continue to sauté until the mushrooms begin to release their liquid, another 3 - 4 minutes. Set aside.

In a medium-large pot melt the margarine over low heat. Add the flour, stirring constantly for 5 minutes until you have a thick amber brown mixture (this is called roux and acts as a thickener). Slowly pour in the milk, stirring constantly to combine until smooth. Add the salt, pepper, oregano and basil, stir. Raise heat to medium and continue to stir the mixture. Give the sauce a few minutes to heat up, then begin to add the basil and spinach in large handfuls. After each handful, stir the greens to incorporate into the sauce and allow them to begin to wilt before adding the next handful. 

After adding the final handful of greens, remove the pot from the heat and continue to stir while the last of the greens wilts. Add the mushroom mixture and sun-dried tomatoes. Stir until they are well incorporated. Pour the mixture into the prepared pie crust.

Put the pie in the oven and cook for 25 - 30 minutes, until the crust is nicely browned and the filling appears firm on top.

Let stand 10 - 15 minutes before serving.

Notes:

- This pie's filling is very creamy, so it is really important that you pre-bake the crust or the bottom of the crust will not bake properly.

- You could use white button mushrooms if you prefer, but they won't provide the same wonderfully earthy flavour that you get from cremini or baby bella's.

West Indian Spinach Pie

1 prepared pie crust (you can pre-bake this one too, but it is not essential like in the last recipe)

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 small yellow onion, chopped

3 - 4 cloves garlic, minced

1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and minced

Red pepper flakes, to taste

1 (170g) box coconut cream

1 - 2 tbsp indian curry paste

1 - 2 tbsp almond milk, or other nondairy milk

1/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves

4 - 4 1/2 cups spinach leaves

1 cup cooked chickpeas or red lentils

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 425º

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes, and sauté until the onions become soft and translucent. 

Add the coconut cream and curry paste and stir constantly until the cream has soften and all the ingredients have combined into a paste. stir in the milk, using just enough to thin the mixture slightly, you do not want to make it runny! 

Add the Spinach in large handfuls. After each handful, stir the spinach to incorporate into the sauce and allow it to begin to wilt before adding the next handful. Once all the spinach is combine add the cilantro, beans, salt and pepper, stir to incorporate and remove from heat. Fill the prepared pie crust with the mixture.

Put the pie in the oven and cook for 25 minutes, until the crust and filling is nicely browned.

Let stand 10 - 15 minutes before serving.

Notes:

- Coconut cream is different from coconut milk, but it can be found next to the coconut milk in most well-stocked grocery stores and in specialty markets.

- If you don't have coconut oil, you can substitute another cooking oil (such as canola, olive or sunflower) but the coconut oil is really what gives this sweet curry its West Indian flare.

Enjoy!!

Veg Jenski xo