Monday, February 28, 2011

Mushroom and Lentil Pot Pies with Gouda Biscuit Topping

With a gouda cheese-filled, cornmeal biscuit topping and an earthy mushroom and lentil filling, I couldn’t pass up this pot pie. These were in the November issue of Bon Appetit, and there’s something irresistible about individual pot pies. You get to break into the crust, watch the steam escape, and then dig into your own little bowl of comfort food. I liked that these came with just a top crust which stayed nicely crisp while sealing off the bowls. And, the biscuit dough couldn’t have been easier to make. With the cornmeal in it, it was very easily handled, and it was simply divided into four pieces that were patted into rounds to cover the filling. The vegetarian filling here was hearty and full-flavored with the use of dried mushrooms, fresh mushrooms, potatoes, and lentils. The varied textures and rich and satisfying flavors made this recipe one for the permanent file.

Although there a few steps to putting these together, those steps can be done a little at a time. For instance, you could cook the lentils two days in advance, then you could finish preparing the filling the next day, store it in the refrigerator already portioned into bowls, and top it with the biscuit dough the day after that. Once you have cooked lentils, you move on to re-hydrating dried porcini, and you should measure the water that’s used to re-hydrate them because it’s added to the filling mixture later. To start the filling, fresh, sliced mushrooms were sauteed in olive oil with carrots, sage, and thyme. Garlic was added followed by flour. After a roux was formed with the flour, the porcini soaking liquid was stirred into the mixture. The soaked and chopped porcini were added with potato chunks, some soy sauce, and a little tomato paste. All of that simmered until the potatoes were tender. The filling was divided among four oven-proof bowls. As I mentioned, the biscuit topping was very easy to make. Flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt were combined, and butter was worked into the mixture. Buttermilk brought the dough together, and then I added some shredded aged gouda into the dough. The dough was cut into four pieces, and each piece was simply patted into a circle to fit into each bowl. Last, the remaining shredded cheese was sprinkled on top of each pot pie. They baked for about 30 minutes.

Mushrooms and lentils may not be pretty food, but the flavor with dried porcini and the boosts from soy sauce and tomato paste made up for the homely look. And, the flakey biscuit layer rich with aged gouda was a delicious cloak for the filling. In fact, that top biscuit layer got me thinking that pot pies should make occasional summer appearances because a filling of sweet corn and zucchini would be great under it too.



26 comments:

  1. It's a group of flavors that I probably wouldn't have ever put together if not for seeing this recipe! I am super-intrigued and can't wait to try it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. OH, so good, such lovely wintery comfortfood. Nom Nom.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A yummy looking casserole! What a perfect combination.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    ReplyDelete
  4. With the lentils, this is a protein-packed pie :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looks great Lisa. This is one of those "I would make this if I had the right equipment" dishes and I have said that so many times about pot pies and French onions soups that I think it is time to invest in a few more oven proof bowls. I only have two. Anyway, terrific dish for this blustery end of Feb!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yum! I'm sure I read this in the November issue, but it obviously didn't appeal to me until I saw yours. Thanks! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. These pot pies sound excellent, very nutritious with lentils!

    ReplyDelete
  8. wow this looks wonderful and so delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a nice filling.. it's an interesting and lovely combination mushrooms and lentils :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I totally meant to make these when that issue of bon Appetit arrived on my doorstep...but then life got in the way. I'm loving these though - total comfort food!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Lisa, you're making me hungry and I just had dinner :P Love all the ingredients esp Gouda cheese to finish it off, hmmmm perfect~

    ReplyDelete
  12. Pot pies bring back such wonderful memories of lazing around on Sundays and comfort foods on cold winter days.

    ReplyDelete
  13. that looks so good!! and different than your typical pot pie.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Lisa, this pot pie looks delicious, very tasty, specially with the Gouda biscuit...very healthy as well :-)

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a delicious and heartwarming casserole!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hands down that has to be the most tempting title for a vegetarian dish Lisa! :D

    ReplyDelete
  17. You had me at cheesy biscuit topping. I wouldn't even care what was underneath if that was on top. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  18. The topping is such a clever idea! I have to try that soon, thanks for sharing such a delicious (and vegetarian!) recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  19. The topping looks so yummy...I love the gouda addition.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Yummy and great looking pot pies! Love the idea and need to remember doing it! the cheese on top is IT!!:)

    ReplyDelete
  21. God, those pot pies look good. I love the addition of gouda to the crust. Somehow I missed this recipe when I read that issue. Thanks for the link- I added it to my Evernote recipe notebook. (I'm getting a bit out of control with Evernote. Hoping I'll dial it back once the wonder wears off :-)

    ReplyDelete
  22. this may be the most appealing take on pot pie that i've ever seen! yes, it's mostly to do with the cheesy topping, but the filling's pretty extraordinary too. great share. :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. I thought I was pretty much done with winter comfort foods....that is until I saw this one. Spring can wait a few weeks until I have a chance to make this!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Sounds just yummy. I love mushrooms like this and with the lentils, looks to be a perfect meal. And then you pushed it over the top with the cheese topping

    ReplyDelete
  25. Yummo! :) It's certainly cooling down here, thinking this might be a bit of a golden recipe to try. Im crazy about mushrooms.... Drool!

    ReplyDelete

Blogging tips