Vegan Leek and Potato Pie

Ooooh, a new blog. Bear with me, people, this is my first time blogging.

The latest thing that I've made that I'm crazy about is this amazingly easy, yet super tasty vegan leek and potato pie. It tastes really good warm, and absolutely amazing cold the next day for lunch.

As tasty as the filling is, the thing that I loved about this recipe is the crust. I've avoided pie and quiche crusts for years because I thought they were finicky and difficult. And loaded with saturated fat. Well, Mark Bittman says that Butter is Back - but I'm still sticking with olive oil for this crust, because it doesn't have to chill in the fridge. That's right, you heard me. You stir together the ingredients for the dough and then you roll it out. DONE. Like dinner.

I found this recipe after realizing that I had bought way too many leeks for my leek and potato soup. I prompted google with "recipe leek and potato" and out plopped "pie." Well, ok! 

Here's a link to Becky MacKay's recipe at The Rose Kitchen. The pie is part of her Vegan Challenge, in which she goes vegan for a week (and tricks her husband, who didn't realize her secret plans! Hilarious! I know my boyfriend would be getting antsy and start ordering burgers by Wednesday if I did that. Oh wait, that was last week.) I also want to try her Black Olive Wild Mushroom and Vegan Pesto Pizza. Yum!

Anyhoo, the amazing spelt and olive oil crust was courtesy of Natalie Ward at Cook Eat Live Vegetarian, which has drool-worthy pictures and makes me want to go to Malaga, Spain and order from her company, Fresh to Go. 

Potato and Leek Pie

(for a 9" or 23 cm baking pan)

For the filling:

• 2 leeks, sliced
• 4 potatoes, diced
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 tsp dried herbs - I used an "Italian blend" but really, anything goes
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 heaping tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)

For the spelt and olive oil dough:

• 250 g spelt flour (I used whole grain)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried herbs
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup cold water

Preheat the oven to 180 C, oil and flour your baking pan. 

Boil or steam the potatoes until they're soft. In a large pan, simmer the leeks in the coconut milk with the spices over low heat. If they start to get dry, add a few tablespoons of water. Once they're soft, add the garlic, potatoes and nutritional yeast, stir, and turn off the heat.

Mix the flour, salt and herbs in a bowl, then drizzle in the olive oil. Stir with a fork until it's well combined and crumbly-looking. Add an ice-cube to the 1/2 cup of water, then slowly pour the water (without the ice-cube) into the flour and mix it with the fork. Once it comes together, knead it a little, but don't overwork the dough, or it will be tough.

Once it forms a ball, cut it into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other. Roll both balls out (I didn't need to flour my countertop, the dough didn't stick at all). Line your pan with larger half of the rolled out dough and fill the pie case with the vegetables. Place the smaller half of the rolled out dough over the top.  Pull the bottom layer of dough up and over the top layer, squeezing and sealing all the way around. Make a pretty decoration on the lid if you like (I kinda wanted to do the whole pi symbol thing, but then I forgot).

Bake at 180 C for 45 minutes or until the dough is bit darker in color (my flour was whole grain, so it was already brown - but it took on a bit of gold as well. I knew it was done when the crust was firm and crisp when I poked it).