Easy Vegetarian Harvesters Pie

One of the easy vegetarian recipes that is filled with nutritious vegetables in one lovely dish, vegetarian harvester’s pie can be served as a main meal or as a side dish. In this gourmet recipe, romano beans are combined with garlic, onion, carrots, celeriac, and cremini mushrooms then seasoned with savory, sage, and thyme to make the filling. The filling is combined with a simple white sauce made with butter, whole-wheat pastry flour, tamari, garlic powder, and milk and placed in a loaf pan. The dish is topped with mashed potatoes and grated cheese and baked in the oven until golden and bubbly.

This is quite a simple dish that also makes a great recipe for the holidays. You can make the mashed potatoes ahead of time or use up leftover mashed potatoes. In this recipe, the potatoes are peeled and diced to shorten the cooking time but you can also boil the potatoes whole until tender and then peel and mash them afterwards. Boiling the potatoes whole will keep their subtle flavor intact. Instead of a pastry crust, the mashed potatoes serve as the top crust for the vegetable pie.

Recommended Wine

Reisling

Difficulty Level

Easy

Ingredients

For the mashed potatoes:

2 large potatoes (fist-sized or larger)

2 tbsp butter

¼ C plain yogurt

2 tsp garlic powder

For the filling:

1 tin romano beans

2 cloves garlic

1 small, yellow onion OR 1 large leek (white part only)

1 C diced carrot

1 C celeriac

10 cremini mushrooms, sliced

2 tsp each: savory, sage, and thyme

For the white sauce:

¼ C butter

¼ C whole wheat pastry flour OR all-purpose flour

1 tsp each: tamari, garlic powder

¼ C + 1 C milk

½ C grated cheddar cheese (optional)

Preparation Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F.

For the potatoes: Peel and dice the potatoes and boil them on the stove until they are very easily pierced with a fork (about 10 minutes, if you dice them small). Drain the potatoes, mix in the butter, yoghurt, and garlic powder, and mash until smooth. Add more butter and/or yoghurt to taste. Set the mashed potatoes aside.

For the filling: Peel and dice the onion/leek, garlic, carrots and celeriac. Wash and slice the mushrooms. Drain and rinse the romano beans well. In a large frying pan, combine the butter, onion/leek, garlic, herbs, and romano beans, and sauté until the onion is translucent. Set aside.

For the white sauce: In a saucepan, heat the butter until it is melted. Whisk in the flour, tamari, garlic powder, and ¼ C milk, until you have a smooth roux. Slowly add the 1 C milk, allowing the mixture to thicken a little.

Putting it all together: Add the white sauce and the chopped carrots, celeriac, and mushrooms to the bean mixture in the skillet. Pour the filling mixture from the skillet into a greased loaf pan. Top with mashed potatoes and sprinkle with (optional) grated cheddar cheese.

Bake for 1 hour at 350F. Serve and enjoy.