Vegetable Samosa Pie

Week Fourteen: One More for the People Pie

Man, who knew the savory pies would be so popular? I’m not telling my sister, I’ll never hear the end of it.

This one’s for Kim, who’s both adverse to eggs (not his fault) and vegetarian (totally his fault). Week after week he sits there and watches the rest of us eat egg-laden dessert pie, and though he’s pretty stoic about it, I know, deep down, it’s just torture. So this one’s for you Kim, enjoy! As for the rest of you dessert-haters, well, you’re just lucky I like Kim.

VEGETABLE SAMOSA PIE

Butter Pastry Crust

(adapted from Cook’s Illustrated’s “Foolproof Pie Dough”)
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
1 tsp salt
16 tbsp cold unsalted butter (2 sticks), cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/4 cup vodka, cold
1/4 cup ice water

Mix flour and salt in food processor fitted with steel blade. Scatter butter over dry ingredients and pulse until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, 10 to 15 seconds. Turn mixture into medium bowl.

Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Shape 2/3 of the dough into flattened round; repeat with remaining 1/3. Wrap tightly in plastic. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight. Dough can be kept in the refrigerator for 2 days or in the freezer for up to a month (if freezing, wrap in additional layer of foil or place plastic wrapped rounds into a heavy-duty freezer bag).

Mashed Potato Filling

4 small/medium potatoes
4 tbsp butter
¼ cup milk
2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes until tender (about 30 minutes); drain, peel off skins, and place in medium/large bowl. Add butter, milk, and cumin and mash until creamy with small chunks of potato. Add salt and pepper. Mix and set aside.

Vegetable Filling

Olive oil
1 large white onion, medium dice
1 large carrot, cut into discs
1 small zucchini, cubed
1 small yellow squash, cubed
1 small Anaheim pepper, fine dice
2 tsp lemon curry
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp coriander
½ tsp cayenne pepper
3 oz tomato paste
½ cup dry sherry
¼ cup water
1 cup baby peas

Coat large sauté pan on medium/high heat with oil. When pan is hot, throw in onion and cook until brown and caramelized, being careful not to burn them. Remove onions and set aside; add carrot, zucchini, squash and the pepper to the pan, adding more olive oil if needed. Saute for 5 minutes on medium heat. Add spices and tomato paste and sauté for another 3 minutes. Add sherry, water and peas and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside for assembly.

Assembly

Pie dough disks
Flour
All ingredients prepared so far

1 9” quiche or spring form pan, preferably at least 2-3” deep

Preheat oven to 350°.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the larger portion of dough into a 15” circle. Carefully place in ungreased pan (I find it easiest to “roll up” the dough around the pin and then unroll it over the pan); ease the dough carefully down the sides and bottom of the pan pressing it lightly into the bottom edge. Trim dough (with kitchen scissors) to leave only 1/2″ overhang.

Evenly spread potato filling over the bottom of the crust, followed by all of the caramelized onion, and top with the vegetable filling. Set pie aside while you roll out the top crust.

Roll out remaining dough to 9” circle. Place over filling to cover, trimming to fit just inside the pan edges if necessary. Roll the bottom crust edges over the top crust, tucking it into itself in a neat circle (think nicely upholstered chair). Beat egg with 1 tbsp of water and brush gently over top crust (but only if you’re not serving to the egg-adverse).

Place pan on a jelly roll sheet in the oven for about 1 hour or until top crust has turned golden brown. Remove from oven and cool (in pan) on rack for 30-45 minutes, until pan is not too hot to touch. Remove pie from pan, slice and serve.