Roasted Vegetable Pies

Image via marthastewart.com/recipes

I was inspired by Martha's recipe for Savory Autumn Leaf Pies when I set out to make my individual roasted vegetable pies. I used my own pie crust recipe instead and ended up making up my own filling too because I'm pregnant and I didn't feel like eating cooked swiss chard. They turned out super yummy and even the batch of pie crust that Nigel helped with (translation: got mixed way too much in the food processor) turned out flaky!

I also changed the method of stacking two dough shapes on top of each other to cutting one circle shape out of the crust and folding it to seal a half circle shape. This was a lot faster and easier for me than trying to match up and seal two separate pie dough pieces.

*Note, this recipe is for 24 miniature pies. I was making them for a party, but if you don't need as much just cut it in half.

2 recipes butter pie crust
2 medium sized golden yukon potatoes, diced very small
2 carrots, peeled and diced very small
2 celery stalk diced very small
1 small acorn squash, peeled and diced very small
1/2 onion diced very small
1 head of garlic, root chopped off to expose each clove for roasting
olive oil
salt pepper
dill

Butter Pie Crust

2 1/2 cups flour
1 TBL sugar
1 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, very cold and diced
1 cup ice water

mix first 4 ingredients in food processor until lumpy but still floury. Add about 1/4 cup of water and pulse four or five more times. Dump the dough into a wide bowl. Using a rubber spatula scrape the dough together, adding cold water as needed to just barely glue it all together. You probably won't need to use the whole cup.

Divide in half and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using.

Roasted Vegetable Pie Filling

spread potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, and acorn squash on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Stir to coat. Add garlic head in the corner so it doesn't get its peels mixed in with the other vegetables and make sure it gets its own coating of olive oil, salt and pepper. Sprinkle everything lightly with dill.

Roast at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes, stirring once in the middle. Squeeze garlic cloves from the peels and toss with other vegetables.

Make egg wash using 1 egg and 2 TBLs heavy cream. This helps seal the pies and makes a beautiful brown finish on the crust. It's not necessary though.

Roll out pie crust and use a 4 inch cookie cutter to cut out shape of choice. I started using a pumpkin, then switched to a leaf, and they were just too hard for me to seal and maintain the charm of the shape. I ended up using a scalloped edged circle that worked great for folding in half instead of stacking two shapes on top of each other and pressing to seal.

PLace 1 TBL vegetable filling in center of circle. Use egg wash on half of the perimeter to then fold in half and seal. The pie ends up being a half circle shape and it was cute because it had the little scalloped edges still. Place pies on baking dish and brush lightly with egg wash. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes before cooking.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. Crust should be golden brown all over. Serve warm.

Yields 24 YUMMY savory pies.