Root Vegetable Pie

Lately I've been really into roasted vegetables. I've been creating entire meals with several kinds of roasted veg, with no meat or starch. The other night my husband called it "a celebration of vegetables." I like that name. So I'm going to start a series of recipes sharing my creations. 

This is the first. 

This is a very tall pie. I built it in a spring form pan so I could get a lot of food in one dish. I found a really huge celery root (about 4 pounds) that became the base of the dish, but you could use just about any vegetables - carrots, zucchini, broccoli, eggplant, or cauliflower would all be awesome. Choose vegetables with bright colors so you get a nice rainbow when you cut into the pie.  

I used besan for the crust because it has a really great nutty flavor. It's also gluten free and glycemic index friendly. 

Root Vegetable Pie

Prep time 30 minutes. Cook time 1 hour 15 minutes. 1 3/4 hours total. 

Vegetables: 

1 large or 2 medium celery roots (peeled)

1 large sweet potato (scrubbed)

(Or about 3 pounds (6 cups) vegetables of your choice)

Crust: 

1 cup besan (chickpea flour)

1/4 cup flax seeds (ground in coffee grinder)

2 tablespoons ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup EVOO

1/4 cup cold water

Sauce: 

1 onion and shallot thinly sliced,

1/4 cup EVOO, 

1/4 cup AP flour, 

2 cups milk, 

1/2 teaspoon salt, 

1 teaspoon herbs de Provence, 

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, 

2 eggs.

1/4 cup shredded hard cheese to sprinkle on top

(I used Asiago)

Method: 

Chop the veg into pieces that will fit into  the food processor shoot. Process them using the slicing attachment. Dump them onto a parchment lined baking sheet and stick them in the over at 350 to roast for about 30 minutes.*

Run the onion and shallot through the slicing blade and dump them into a skillet. Add a bit of oil and water and begin to sauté/caramelize. 

Switch to the regular processor blade and add the dry crust ingredients. Pulse to combine. Drizzle in the EVOO while pulsing. Drizzle in the water while pulsing, continue to pulse until the dough forms a ball. Turn dough onto a floured surface. Shape into a 6-inch wide disk, wrap with plastic and chill for about 15 minutes. 

For the sauce, add 1/4 cup EVOO and flour to a sauce pot. Stir over medium heat until the mixture is uniform and bubbly. Add the milk and heat until thickened, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Pull the veggies out of the oven to cool. 

Grease the sides of a spring form pan. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick, use the pan to cut the dough to shape, set the dough in the bottom of the pan. Add the cheese, onion and shallot, and egg to the sauce. 

Simple Pie Assembly: 

Mix the veggies into the sauce. Pour the sauce mix into the pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula, working out as many air bubbles as possible. Sprinkle the top with cheese and bake at 350 for an hour and 15 minutes. 

Fancy Pie Assembly:

Pull out a handful of the prettiest looking vegetable slices to use as the top of the pie.  Spread about a quarter of the sauce over the crust in the bottom of the pan. Start placing vegetable slices over the sauce to create a solid layer of vegetables. Consider starting with a layer of bright colored vegetables like sweet potato or broccoli.  Add a second layer of veg, then another layer of sauce. Continue until you've use up all the veg and top with sauce. Arrange the pretties veg slices on top and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 for an hour and 15 minutes. 

* I used a food processor for most of my chopping and mixing because it's a lot of food. You can certainly do it by hand, but it will take you a while.