Savoury Winter Pie

If you asked Mr. Downright Vegan if we ate out or ordered in too often he would say yes we do.  So we are making a concerted effort to cook more and eat at home as much as possible.  Plus, today is Sunday, and instead of going to my father's house for dinner as I usually do, where I have meals prepared by my vegan sister, I stayed home, so I had to cook.

I am always on the lookout for a good recipe, and when I'm reading mainstream magazines I like to consider how I would veganize a recipe.  The inspiration for this Savoury Winter Pie, as I am calling it, was in this month's Country Living UK magazine, only it was made with lamb - how utterly cruel. I substituted Gardein Beefless Ground, a vegan meaty substitute. This is a superior vegan product, in my humble opinion.  You could also use lentils and rice in place of these if you wanted to avoid vegan meats.

Ingredients

1 lb of Gardein Beefless Ground
1 medium butternut squash  chopped into one inch chunks.
1 large onion chopped into the size you like (i like larger pieces, but I know some prefer tiny bits)
1 large carrot chopped into the size you like
2 ribs of celery chopped into the size you like
3 cloves of garlic, chopped/minced as you prefer
Oil for the pan - I used Wegman's basting oil, which is simply cooking oil with herbs in it
I 300 ml can of fire roasted tomatoes
Sweet potatoes

Pre-heat your oven to 350 F

Put the cubes of squash into a bowl and drizzle with a little oil and the herbs of your choice.
Place the squash on a parchment covered cookie sheet and cook in the oven until tender, which takes about 30 minutes.  Set aside.



Place the chopped onions, carrots and celery into a frying pan with a little oil and cook on medium heat, stirring from time to time, until the onions are translucent and the carrots and celery are al dente.

Add the garlic and stir to combine.

Add the can of fire roasted tomatoes.

Add the Beefless Round to the pan.

In the meantime, while the veggies are cooking, scrub your sweet potatoes, and leaving the skins on, slice them in uniformly thin slices.  I tried using a mandoline but I was frankly afraid of slicing my fingers off even though I was using the pushing gizmo, plus I felt that the slices were too thin.  I ended up giving the too thin slices to the squirrels in my backyard.  Using a sharp knife, I cut the sweet potatoes by hand, about 1/4 of an inch thick.

Now increase the heat on the oven to 400 F

Put the cooked squash pieces into the bottom of a pie plate, making sure they are evenly distributed.

Add the contents of the frying pan, and then place the sweet potato rounds on top of this in a single, slight overlapping layer.  Brush the sweet potatoes with oil and season to your liking.  I used the wegman's basting oil and black pepper.

Cook until the sweet potatoes are soft.