Lately, I have been addicted to Food Network Star. It ended the other night and the pie man lost but that didn’t make me lose the inspiration he created on screen. He could make anything into a pie. When I saw that grilled cheese pie with the short ribs I started to drool. I have actually been lucky enough to visit his restuarant in DC on my April road trip and was suprised to see they always feature multiple vegan pies there! However, I do not know how to make a vegan short rib equivalent so I started googling savory pies and looking at his pie shop menus. Chicken pot pie and chicken pie came up a lot in all these searches.

When I was a kid my mother would make Chicken Pot Pie a few times a month I swear. My father was always traveling and I can only imagine how stressed my mom was, so a one pot/pie meal was something she could throw together from all the leftovers during the week and we would have our bellies full. We either got it from scratch or in the box from Willow Farms that was fresh and local and a good alternative. My favorite however was just chicken and stuffing or potatoes. After watching Food Network and then googling for hours I decided I was going to make a chicken pie that was half chicken pie and a smidge chicken pot pie. I called my husband and told him to pick me up some pie crust on the way home. I was lucky because he got the refrigerated vegan pie crust from Whole Foods instead of the boxed kind and defrost was not needed.

NOTE: He is such a good sport about supporting my culinary undertakings without question.

I then embarked upon my first ever savory pie attempt and the stars must have aligned because it was the most delicious pie I had ever made. I don’t say this lightly because I make an amazing chocolate strawberry pie but this one was unbelievable. The crust was just a little sweet and perfectly flaky and the filling was hearty and subtle with an aroma of calming rosemary filling the house and the slight crunch of the diced broccoli stalks just finished it off. It will be ideal when Autumn hits. My husband, the resident omnivore, even had two slices before I was done with my first.

So let me tell you how I did it and you can make this for your Meatless Monday or meatless anyday or meatless everyday!

___________________________________________________________________________________

Savory Rosemary and Thyme Chicken Pie

INGREDIENTS:

Filling

• 1 Container Beyond Meat Lightly Seasoned Chicken Strips (available at Whole Foods)
• 1 head of broccoli
• 1/4 of an onion ciabatta bread square (8×8) (or any bread you have leftover just add extra onions)
• 1 carmalized onion diced into tiny pieces or 1/3 cup of dehydrated onions (which I prefer)
• 2tbsp Rosemary
• 2tsp Thyme
• 2 tbsp kosher salt
• 1tsp black freshly ground pepper
• 1tsp granulated garlic

Sauce

• 1cup Almond Milk
• 1/3 cup Tofutti Sour Cream
• 1/3 cup Daiya Mozzarella Cheese Shreds
• 1/4 block of Daiya Havarti Cheese
• 2tbsp Olive Oil
• 2tbsp dehydrated onion
• 1tsp salt

Pie Crust

• 2 Vegan Refrigerated Pie Crusts from Whole Foods
• Salt
• Pepper
• Thyme
• Rosemary
• Granulated Garlic
• Dehydrated Onions

Finishing

• Olive Oil for Misting the top only
• Pinch of salt

____________________________________________________________________________

COOKING:

Prepare Filling:

1. Dice Beyond Meat Vegan Chicken.
2. Dice into very small pieces broccoli.
3. Dice cubed bread and soak in warm water for 3 minutes. Remove and add to mixture.
4. Toss all ingredients of filling until well combined.

Prepare Sauce

1. Place all sauce ingredients in sauce pan on Medium heat and stir until melted and well combined.
2. Take off heat and add filling until all contents are covered in sauce.

Prepare Crust

1. Preheat oven to 350degrees.
2. Take both pie crusts and knead in spices and salt until well-distributed through dough.
3. Press 1 crust dough back into pie pan and then place parchment paper and pie weights on top for precooking. If you do not have pie weights you can use canned veggies with the paper ripped off or dry beans you have on hand to weigh down the crust and keep it from bubbling up while you precook the dough. Do not forget to precook the dough or the filling will cause it to come out raw. Precook until lightly golden.
4. Knead second dough with spices and salt. Roll out to twice the size of original dough as this will cover the heaping pie.
5. Take pie crust out of oven and fill with filling/sauce mixture. It will be dome shaped on top. Press in and condense. The Beyond Meat chicken is already cooked so you do not have to worry about raw meat.
6. Once all the filling is in the crust cover with the second seasoned dough. Tuck in the edges so that it forms and thick layer that has no holes at the seam of the pie pan.

1. Cut air holes on the top of the crust to allow for steam to escape. I say 4 1 inch slits always work out well.
2. Mist lightly with olive oil and sprinkle a pinch of salt on top.
3. Bake at 425degrees for approximately 30minutes or until crust is golden on top .

Eat. Serve. Enjoy.

Serves 8-10.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

XOXOX,

The Hippie Gypsy