day 18 of Vegan MoFo 2013. It has driven me to drink. Thirteen years of straight-edge, teetotal.ness down the drain. Well, not quite. It doesn't count when it's cooked in food. Because I have been a non-drinker for longer than my love affair (yeah, what's one of those..but that's a whole other story) with vegan cooking began, I have never had food laced with alcohol. Until now, this MoFo, for me, has been about breaking down some barriers and trying the new, or experimenting with recipes I'd been putting off because they seemed complicated and thus doomed to failure. Failure has become the new success. Really, there is no way to bypass it when skiing along a learning curve.
I wanted to make food with beer. I'd make food with lashings of cider and wine in my pre-vegan days, but never beer. What better way to begin than with a classic, good old fashioned pie! Rich and earthy. The perfect transition to Autumn eating.
There a few steps involved in this recipe, but worry-ye-not, I'll walk you though it best I can.
Deep Filled & Rich, Chestnut Mushroom & Ale Pie
Filling
1 block tempeh & a little gf flour for dusting
350 g organic chestnut mushrooms
1 large organic carrot chopped in rounds
1 medium onion diced
3 cloves garlic minced
1 stick of celery chopped
1/2 cup gluten free flour (I used Bobs Red Mill GF garbanzo & Fava mix, but sorghum would be perfect too)
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbs whole grain mustard
2 cloves garlic
2 tbs tomato paste
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp dried or fresh thyme
pastry
3/4 whole grain teff
1/4 cup almond flour
1/2 cup garbanzo & fava flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbs arrowroot flour
3/4 tsp xantham gum
2 tbs solidified coconut oil (the flavourless one is best for this recipe…or use vegan shortening)
vegan milk. enough to form a dough.
Method
Fry the onion & celery on a low heat for about 10 mins, until caramelised. If you sprinkle a little salt over the onions whilst cooking it helps them to release their water and encourages caramelisation. Add garlic & thyme. Cook on a low heat for a further 1-2 mins. Careful not to burn. Set aside.
Clean any soil off the mushrooms with a dampened piece of kitchen towel(don't wash), slice (leaving a few cut into halves) and then fry (in quite a large pan..I will explain why further down) in a little oil until soft. Sprinkle over 1/2 cup gf flour and mix with a spoon. Set aside.
Make the pastry
sift the flours, salt and gum into a food processor or a bowl and cut in the coconut fat or shortening. Rub lightly with your fingertips (or slowly pulse in the dough mixer) until the mixture is crumbly. The tiny bits of solid/cold fat are what makes the pastry 'short'. Slowly add the cold water to form a ball of dough. The amount needed will depend on the humidity, and the flours that you use. I used about 7 tbs in the end.
Chill the pastry for 15 mins. Heat your oven to 180 degrees, whilst the pastry is chilling.
On a sheet of parchment paper, roll out your pastry to fit your pie tin. Body & lid. Line your tin with the pastry (keep the lid aside). Pop into the oven to blind bake. About 5-8 mins depending on your oven. We do this as the filling is already cooked and so a short overall cooking time may not properly cook the pastry.
While the pastry is blind baking...
Cube the tempeh and dust in a little gf flour. Oil and heat a pan and fry the tempeh until golden. Remove the tempeh and set aside. Add the carrots and fry for a couple of minutes. Next, deglaze the pan by slowly pouring the bottle of Greens Discovery into the pan. With a wooden spoon dislodge any remaining crispy bits from the tempeh. Cook on a low heat for 2 mins.
Now to bring it all together. Add the onion mix, & beer carrot mix to the mushrooms and stir on a low heat until it thickens.
Remove the pie tin from the oven. Spoon the mix into the pie tin. Gently pop on it's pastry lid and with wet fingers, crimp the sides to seal.
Cook in the oven for 25-30 mins. The top will take on a lovely colour. Careful not to let it burn.
At this point I made a quick garlicky spinach and pea mash. No potatoes just the veggies quick fried with a bit of veggie stock and lots of cracked black pepper.
I have never eaten anything cooked with beer. I was surprised, it tasted so good. My (dyed-in-the-wool) carnivorous dining companion said he'd choose my pie over any meat and ale pie he'd eaten before. After years of forcing encouraging him to favour honesty over being nice (with me anyway), I take this as gospel.
I will be making this again very soon.
Special thanks goes to Green's Original Gluten Free Beer available in Europe and a few countries outside. Approved by the Coeliac UK and The Vegetarian Society UK for making my alcohol infused foray into food possible. Have you heard of Barnivore too? They have an online vegan, beer, wine and liquor guide.
Just a few more days and Vegan MoFo 2013 will be in the bag!
See you tomorrow! xx