Roasted Root Vegetable Pot Pie with Guinness-Mushroom Gravy

 

This is a great dish for using up leftover roasted root vegetables or, of course, you can roast the veggies just for this purpose.  Instead of using puff pastry for the top, it is just as easy to use mashed potatoes like a Shepherd's Pie, although you might then want to avoid roast potatoes in the filling.

I wanted to enjoy some of my newly harvested potatoes, beets and carrots, so I roasted them the night before along with some onions and herbs:

All veggies tossed with olive oil, S&P

Drizzle of balsamic on the beets

Thyme on the carrots

Parsley on the onions

Rosemary on the potatoes

I was a bit overzealous with my nibbling of the beets and carrots, so my pot pies were more onion-heavy than I intended ... but that's the great thing about this, you can include any veggies you want.  Equally delicious are parsnips and sweet potatoes.  I added some frozen peas as well.

The Pot Pie 

The amount of ingredients are very flexible.  I used 4 x 4-inch ramekins for this recipe, but you can easily use a casserole dish or pie plate ... just adjust filling amounts as needed. 

Ingredients
3 cups roasted veggies, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup frozen peas
Guinness-mushroom gravy (see below)
Puff Pastry (1/2 of a 450 gram package)


When gravy is ready, allow to cool slightly then toss with roasted veggies and peas.  Scoop into 4 ramekin dishes.









Cut pieces of puff pastry to fit the top of the ramekin and place over top.  If you have leftovers, cut little pieces for a decorative top ... I think my guitar cookie-cutter has been bent out of shape.

 

Bake at 425 degrees F for about 45 minutes - since the filling is already cooked, it is just a matter of the puff pastry getting browned and puffy!  Can be served in the ramekin, or flipped out onto a plate with the pastry on the bottom.

Guinness-Mushroom Gravy Recipe

I like to add shiitake mushrooms when making a sauce or gravy as they can add a lot of flavour.  They are a bit pricier, but worth it (and don't forget to remove the stems; they are one of the few regular mushrooms around where the stem is not used in cooking as it is too tough).  You can leave the mushroom in bigger pieces if you want, but I like to make it as much like a regular, smooth gravy as possible, so I chop them up as small as I can manage.

Ingredients
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, minced
3.5 ounces shiitake mushrooms, minced
2 shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Thyme
1 1/2 Tbsp butter
2 1/2 Tbsp flour
440 ml can Guinness beer





Heat some olive oil in a pan, add mushrooms, shallots and garlic (I add them all at once to avoid the shallots and garlic from burning).  Cook until well-browned - don't stir the mushrooms too much (I'm a chronic pan shaker myself, so I know it's not easy, but they won't brown well if you keep playing with them).  Add the thyme after a few minutes.  When the mushrooms are browned and getting a bit crisp, add the butter and flour.  Stir in then cook for a few minutes.  When the pan is getting dry again, add the beer.  It will seem like a lot of liquid at first, but it will cook down and add a ton of flavour.  Stir often.  Cook about 10 minutes until reduced to about two cups (will be a nice thick gravy at that point).