Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Tofu Skillet Pie and Confessions of a Procrastinator!!!

I have had pot pies before but have never made them, the main reason being I can never get the texture right on the pie crust; I prefer making my own (no offense to the numerous frozen puff pastries out there). I have 2 little confession to make…I bought this 8” iron skillet a few months ago, with plans of using it for cooking and baking. But let’s just say that I did not find an inauguration worthy recipe until two days ago.
I also have quite a few cookbooks lying around, many of which have not been touched for ages. I was flipping through Food & Wine’s Annual Cookbook 2009 when I found this recipe for a skillet pot pie. The first thing that appealed to me was that this pie did not need a pie crust…I couldn’t ask for anything better. So what is the substitute? Read on to find out.
Ingredients
Firm tofu (diced) – 1 ½ cups
Chopped onion – ¾ cup
Potato (diced) – ½ cup
Mushrooms (sliced) – ½ cup
Peas – ¼ cup
Milk – 1 cup
All purpose flour – 1 ½ tbsps
Water/vegetable stock – ½ cup
Butter – 1 ½-2 tbsps
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Chili powder – 1 tsp
Thick slices of bread
Method
Preheat the oven to 425o F. Heat the iron skillet on the stove and add 1-1 ½ tbsps of butter. Once the butter has melted, add the onions, potatoes, and mushrooms; season with a bit of salt and pepper, cover and cook on high heat for a minute. Lower the heat, uncover and sauté until the vegetables are tender. Add the flour and the chili powder and stir for a minute (making sure the flour does not burn). Add the water and mix until the sauce thickens a little.  
Add the milk and bring it to a light boil. Add the tofu and peas, add salt and pepper if required; mix well and take it off the stove. Arrange the pieces of bread to cover the the skillet completely. Brush with the remaining butter and bake for 20 minutes. Serve hot. Bon Appétit.  

Note 1) If you do not have an iron skillet, you can do the sautéing in a pan and transfer to an oven-proof dish later.
    2) Place a pan in the lower rack to catch the drippings from the skillet. The pie filling will bubble  over and burn (happened to me).

14 comments:

  1. wow..a good alternative to the regular pie n healthy too!!

    Join me(Erivum Puliyum)
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  2. Thanks Julie. It is definitely healthier and as yummy as it can be.

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  3. that's a nice variation.. looks yumm!

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  4. nothing could be better than to have your best friend besides you all the time. all the luck to you girls. awesome blog you have created here. love this pie recipe.

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  5. Thanks Rinku, Renuka.
    Thanks Sayantani, we are definitely lucky :-).

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  6. Very interesting recipe! Looks delicious

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  7. I love tofu. I love things you and do with tofu and I am a total pie crust slut. So in other words, yum!

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  8. Awesome recipe,looks so yummy.

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