Mia LeTendre's Vegetable Pot Pie

Recipes

Vegetable Pot Pie

By Mia LeTendre

To understand Mia LeTendre's style of cooking, you need to know a little about her first. She’s been vegan for 17 years, a lifestyle decision she made after giving birth to her son. Before that and from age 13 onward, she was a vegetarian, and cooking was done out of necessity. When she started cooking vegan, she was “horrible at it in the beginning,” she remembers. But watching her parents and learning about timing, making adjustments and “trusting intuition” helped her get the hang of it. Now, feeding her teenage son, she reflects, “Cooking for my family is the most sacred thing I can do for them.”

The pot pie came from that part of the brain that nostalgia calls home. Memories of childhood convenience foods (think Marie Callender’s) brought to life the idea of single-serve decadence. Over time, the pie has been sharpened and refined, and it comes together easily in the hands of its creator. It’s “not only a comfort food, but as a single mom, [it allows her to] waste as little as possible,” she says. The filling also takes a slightly different form depending on the season – greens and squash in the summer, root vegetables in winter. She generally freezes much of what comes up in her garden, and when fall comes, she’ll make “a bunch of pot pies and put them in the freezer” to pull out when they want something decadent and, yes, meaningful.

Ingredients

Serves 8

2 pie crusts

A few tablespoons of flour for rolling out the dough

4 cups gravy

4 cups vegetables of choice (I used purple cauliflower, carrots, kale, green beans, garlic scapes and peas), cut into small pieces

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

You can use a regular 9-inch pie pan, or several smaller ramekins of you're making individual pies. If that’s the case, divide the dough accordingly. Either way, you'll want to roll your dough out a few inches larger than the pan, drape it over the pan, and press it firmly into the bottom. Trim off any excess, and line the inside with parchment paper and dried bean or pie weights. Bake at 350 for eight minutes. Remove from oven, remove the weights and parchment, and ladle in enough gravy to fill the bottom. Pour in your vegetables and more gravy until its slightly mounded over the lip of the pie pan. Drape your second crust over the top and pinch the edges together. You can get as decorative and ornate or as simple and utilitarian as you’d like here. It’s your pie. Cut three X’s in the top to let the steam out, and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden and flaky. Let cook for 10-15 minutes before eating.

Pie crust (Makes 2 crusts)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, cold, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup plant-based butter, cold, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup ice water

Combine dry ingredients in food processor. Pulse. Add shortening and butter. Pulse until crumbly. Pulse in ice water, 1 teaspoon at a time until a shaggy ball of dough begins to form. Do not add too much water. Knead by hand for about 30 seconds, just to form a smooth ball. Cut into two equal pieces and press into a disk shape. Wrap in parchment or plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour before rolling.

Bio

Mia LeTendre grew up in central Wisconsin, raised by back-to-the-land hippy parents who wanted to live more intentionally and self-sufficiently. As a young child, Mia helped her mom and brothers care for the garden, goats and chickens and spent her free time exploring the 20 wooded acres on which they lived. After the birth of her son in 2004, Mia attended film school, paying the bills by working in kitchens and cafes. Before long, it was clear that food was a more persistent passion than film, and soon LeTendre was operating a DIY “secret café” out of her home every week, throwing elaborate dinner parties open to the public. Over the years, LeTendre lived in several places, including Austin, Portland, Oregon, and Cape Town, South Africa, and has worked at a wide array of restaurants, including the legendary Mother’s Café in Austin, which celebrated 40 years of service before closing its doors in 2020. After moving back to the Midwest, LeTendre tried her hand at various jobs in various fields, working as a nanny, a private chef and a mail carrier before opening Strange Town in 2017. LeTendre focuses her efforts on creating a workplace free of drama and toxicity, eliminating tipping and paying all workers a living wage, and supporting local farmers and foragers.

Mia LeTendre

Strange Town

Mia LeTendre

Strange Town

About Strange Town

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