Vegetarian hand pies

I had the idea to make a savory hand pie for Kiran's lunches, I wanted to make one as close to classic chicken pot pie as I could, but without the chicken. This came out so good, both Kiran and Mahesh loved it. You can also use the same filling and crusts to make a full-size veggie pot pie. This would be great for a really nice vegetarian main dish at a celebration like Thanksgiving as well. I love chicken pot pie and I'd bet most meat eaters wouldn't even notice no meat chunks, especially if you make a really good crust.

Vegetarian Hand Pies

makes 22 hand pies

For crust:

-- 1 cup butter (2 sticks) plus more for pie plate
-- 2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out dough (I usually use 1 1/2 cups white and 1 cup whole wheat flour)
-- 1/2 t. salt

For filling:

-- 1/2 potato, peeled and cubed (maybe 1/2 cup)
-- 1/2 cup peas, frozen
-- 2 T. butter
-- 1 cup carrots, chopped (1 medium)
-- 1 onion, chopped
-- 1/2 cup celery, chopped (1 rib)
-- 2 T. flour
-- 1/2 tsp. salt
-- 1/4 tsp. pepper
-- 1/4 tsp. celery seed
-- 2 cups milk
-- 1 heaping T veggie bullion

-- 3 T. milk or 1 egg, beaten with 1 t. water (to seal and wash pies)

Instructions

First, make your pie crust.

1.   The trick with pie crusts is 1) keep everything cold and 2) try not to work the dough any more than you absolutely need to. Cut each stick of butter into 8 pieces, refrigerate until needed

2.   Place the flour, and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix to combine

3.   Add the chilled butter. Using a pastry blender, chop the butter into the flour mix - the mixture should resemble coarse meal with small pieces of butter, the size of peas, visible.

4.   Drizzle 1/4 cup ice water over flour-butter mix, blend, repeat with another 1/4 cup of ice water. Keep adding 1/4 cup of ice water until the dough mostly sticks together. Squeeze a little bit if you must but don't touch it too much with your hands at this point. The dough will get a bit stickier as it rests.

5.   Divide dough into 2 pieces, flatten into disks, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.

Make the filling

6.   Prep all your ingredients for the filling.

7.   Preheat your oven to 425 F (220 C).

8.   Boil a pot of water and add chopped potato and boil gently for about 15 minutes. When there are 2 minutes left on the timer, add frozen peas to the mix. Drain and set aside.

9.   In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter and cook onions, celery, and carrots for about 15 minutes or until onion is translucent.

10. Stir in the flour, salt, pepper and celery seed and cook for at least 60 seconds to cook out the raw taste of the flour. 

11. Slowly whisk in milk and veggie bulllion. Whisk for about 5 minutes until thickened.

12. Stir in the potatoes and peas. Boil until it reaches the right consistency, you want it saucy but not to run all over the place. Some runniness is OK because it gets thicker as it cools. 

13. Remove from heat and set aside.

Make the pies

14. Take one pie crust out of fridge and roll out a bit thinner than regular pie crust. 

15. Cut 4.5 inch circles (I used a blue plastic bowl) and move the circles to a greased baking sheet (or one covered with a silpat).

16. Refrigerate circles until fully chilled. (the crust is easier to work with when cold)

17. To make a pie, wet the entire edge of the circle with milk or egg wash. Add about 2 heaping Tablespoons of filling, then fold dough in half, press around the edge, and crimp with a fork. Wash top with egg wash or milk, then poke with fork on top to let vent.

18. Bake the pies 17 minutes, or until brownish on top and the crust is baked through. 

19.  Remove your pie from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before serving.