Tastes Like Chicken Pie + Great Vegan Meals for the Carnivorous Family
Crispy, flaky crust, with a savory, gravy filled ramekin, and stringy king oyster mushrooms, seasoned with thyme, this tastes like chicken pie is the wholesome, vegan equivalent of the classic dish. This simple, flavorful recipe is from “Great Vegan Meals for the Carnivorous Family” by Amanda Logan , a cookbook featuring vegan interpretations of classic, omnivore dishes. But unlike many meat substitutions, this one is not loaded with seitan, tofu, and nutritional yeast, but rather with fruits and vegetables such as oyster mushrooms, carrots, watermelon, chickpeas and cauliflowers. However, “Great Vegan Meals for the Carnivorous Family” transforms these vegetables into more than their humble status, and uplifts them into full, hearty meals.
Before I share a recipe with you all, I wanted to talk a little about the book. “Great Vegan Meals for the Carnivorous Family” is written by Amanda Logan of the popular blog, My Goodness Kitchen. Her philosophy to cooking is to create delicious plant-based foods for busy families, vegan or not, a philosophy which is shown clearly in her cookbook. The book includes 75 recipes and is divided into 6 chapters-
- Easy Eggless Breakfasts
- Plant-Powered Lunch Favorites
- Carnivore Approved Mains
- Vegetables on the Side
- These Sweet Things Don’t Taste Vegan
- Awesome Basics to Improve your Vegan Game
A few of the recipes are Carrot Not-Dogs, Vegan Chili Fries, and Japanese Eggplant No-Meatballs. Each recipe is accompanied by a full-page photograph, where the photography is beautiful, clean, clear, and simple with dark and gentle wood-tones. The recipes themselves are well written and clear, and the imagination behind the diversity of the recipes is extraordinary.
I am so lucky to live with a guy who is fully committed to the vegan-cause and loves all vegan food, but when we have non-vegan company over, there is always a little bit of pressure to serve something that will make them happy and not send them home hungry. And sometimes things like tofu stir-fry in pineapple sweet and sour sauce, or quinoa salad can just be a little to ‘granola’ for those with less of a veggie-heavy diet. So to properly test “Great Vegan Meals for the Carnivorous Family”, I didn’t make things easy and just cook for my boyfriend and myself- I also served some real-life meat-eaters.
The recipe I settled on was this “tastes like chicken pie”- a take on the classic chicken pot pie. It’s actually the recipe featured on the front cover of the book, so I figured it would be a good representation of what this book was about. The recipe uses a simple yet extremely clever technique of shredding king oyster mushrooms to mimic the texture of chicken, which is sautéed with onion, garlic, carrot and celery. It is seasoned simply with thyme and bay leaves, and vegetable broth, and thickened into a gravy. The whole mixture is placed in individual-portioned ramekins, topped with a round of puff-pastry, and baked until the crust is crisp and flaky. The result is a warm, savory, tastes like chicken pie that pleased the room- from those who eat like an herbivore, to those closer to the carnivore-spectrum.
Tastes Like Chicken Pie
This recipe was such a turning point for me. The day these little guys emerged from my oven was the day I knew I could feed a family of fussy carnivores and stay true to my own food journey. These pies do taste just like chicken pie.
Ingredients
- 8 king oyster mushrooms
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) tamari
- 2 tbsp (30 g) vegan butter
- 1 white onion, finely diced
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 celery ribs, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 3 tbsp (23 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (473 ml) vegetable stock
- 3 sprigs thyme, leaves removed and chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ cup (118 ml) dairy-free milk plus
- 2 tsp (10 ml) for brushing
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ cup (75 g) fresh or frozen peas
- 2 sheets vegan puff pastry, thawed
Instructions
- Wipe the king oyster mushrooms down with a clean cloth to remove any grit. Chop 1 inch (2½ cm) of the stalk to remove the tough base. Carefully but firmly drag the prongs of a fork down the length of mushroom to shred the “meat” (this is easier if you lay the mushroom down). Place in a bowl and gently stir in the tamari, then set aside.
- Melt the vegan butter in a large pan over low to medium heat and add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Cook for around 5 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Stir in the flour and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the vegetable stock, thyme and bay leaves and stir in the milk, pepper and sea salt. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Stir in the shredded mushrooms and reduce the heat to low. Cook the pie filling for 10 minutes or until the liquid has reduced to a pie gravy consistency. Remove from the heat, stir in the peas and set aside while you prepare the puff pastry.
- Preheat the oven to 420°F (215°C).
- To prepare the pastry, place a ramekin or pie pot upside down on the thawed pastry and cut a circle a half-inch (1-cm) larger than the dish lip. Repeat with other ramekins. Fill each ramekin with pie filling before laying the pastry over the top.
- Gently press the edges of the pastry to the side of the ramekin and cut a small slit in the center of each pastry top. Brush a small amount of dairy-free milk on top
- (not the sides) of the pastry and place the pies in the oven for 15 minutes or until the pastry top is golden.
For more of “Great Vegan Recipes for the Carnivorous Kitchen”, go purchase the whole book on Amazon!
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