Got veggies? Make a pie

Detroit’s Eastern Market, a local landmark in the heart of the city that’s been a farmer’s market and gathering place since 1891, is enjoying growth with loft apartments and one-of-a-kind shops, galleries and restaurants popping up in historic buildings throughout the neighborhood.

The market is open throughout the week for wholesale produce, meat, poultry and seafood sales; Saturday is the public day that in season attracts 40,000 shoppers. Besides the fresh foods the variety of restaurants and shops at the market are part of the attraction.

Eastern Market is fairly convenient to our home and we’ll occasionally zip down on a Saturday morning for the abundance of foods, good prices, and the people watching. On the past two Saturdays we’ve gone late in the day, at about 3 p.m., when the vendors  discount their prices so they don’t have to load the perishable foods back onto their trucks and eat nothing but unsold broccoli for a week.

They almost give it away, so if you’re not looking for a particular item you can bag some great bargains, like the two heads of green cauliflower I got for $1.

Coincidentally, that day my friend Donna mentioned on Facebook that she was making a vegetable pot pie for dinner. Yum! She was nice enough to share the recipe and I was able to put some of the Eastern Market bounty to good use.

Here’s Donna’s recipe and a couple of changes I made. My go-to pie crust recipe follows; it’s from French Cooking, a cookbook TJ and I were gifted when we got married.

I know I’ll be making this delish dish often. Thanks, Donna!

Donna’s Vegetable Pot Pie

Ingredients

½ cup of diced or minced onions
½ cup of diced or minced celery
½ cup of sweet peas (I used frozen)
1 cup of sliced or chopped carrots
1-1/2 cups of potatoes, diced (peeled or not….your choice) (I substituted cauliflower for potato)
1 can of cream of chicken soup (reduced fat) (I used cream of mushroom soup)
½ can of skim milk

Pie crust (see a favorite recipe below)

–  If desired, chicken or turkey (pre-cooked and diced) can be included
–  Other vegetables can be added/substituted (i.e. broccoli, bell pepper, cauliflower)

Method

Partially cook the diced potatoes and carrots, then drain.  Do not fully cook, since they will continue cooking in the pie.

• In a large pan, mix the can of cream of chicken soup with the milk. Using a fork, completely blend the soup and milk.
• Add to the soup pan:  carrots, celery, onion, potatoes, peas (plus any other vegetables).  Stir well, but do not cook.
• Place ½ pie crust in pie pan.  Do not bake.
• Pour ingredients from soup pan into uncooked crust.
• Top with remaining pie crust.
• Pinch crust edges and make vents with fork prongs
• If desired, brush with egg whites
• Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until crust is lightly browned.

Basic Pastry Dough
from French Cooking
Makes 2 crusts for 8″ or 9″ pie pan

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
5 tablespoon cold water

Sift together the flour and salt
Pour oil and cold water into measuring cup (do not stir)
Add liquid to flour mixture; stir gently with a fork
Divide, form two balls
Roll each flattened ball between two sheets of waxed paper until correct size for pie pan
Peel off top sheet of waxed paper; invert dough into pie plate. Remove paper. Fit into pan, trim crust to 1/2 inch beyond edge, fold under and flute edge