Green Garden Veg Pie

Just a quicky post tonight, as I have a deadline to meet with my latest article for Oklahoma Living Magazine. This is another recipe from the BBC Good Food magazine, (God bless Auntie Beeb, and all who sail in her), and it’s a definite keeper. As usual, I made a few changes to it. The original recipe included cauliflower, which I didn’t have, so I substituted mushrooms. It also required that all the vegetables be partially cooked before being baked, other than the potatoes, I didn’t think that would be necessary, and it wasn’t. You could serve this as a vegetarian main course, or as I did, as a side dish.

Green Garden Veg Pie




Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter
¼ cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground mustard powder
1 pint milk
¾ cup sharp cheddar, shredded, divided
2-3 large russet potatoes, sliced into thin rounds
1 broccoli crown, cut into florets
6 ounces mushrooms, thickly sliced
1 cup frozen peas, thawed and drained
2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 420°F
• Put potatoes in a pan of water, bring to the boil, and simmer for 3-5 minutes, until slightly tender. Drain into a colander and set aside.
• In a medium saucepan, melt butter over a medium heat. Take pan off heat and gradually stir in flour and mustard powder. Return pan to heat, and gradually add milk, stirring constantly until sauce thickens.
• Remove pan from heat and stir in ½ a cup of cheese.
• Reserve the largest of the potato slices to place on top of the dish. Put all remaining veggies in a 3-inch deep, 11x 8-inch baking dish, top with cheese sauce, sprinkle over chives, and a dash of fresh ground black pepper. Top the dish with reserved potato slices, and sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup of cheese.
• Bake for 25 minutes until topping is golden and crisp.