Spiral Vegetable Pie
It’s swirly, it’s yummy, and it will make the vegans in your life happy. Spiral Vegetable Pie is a lovely veggie-centric dish. You will want it at your Thanksgiving table for your vegan and non-vegan friends.
Vegetarian vs Vegan
You either know one, are related to one or are one. Vegan. It’s not just for high-maintenance people anymore.
Vegetarianism is relatively easy to understand. No meat. Got it. But veganism?
What’s the difference between the two? You may remember we talked a bit about vegetarianism in this post. While vegetarians don’t eat the flesh of animals, vegans take it a step further.
They don’t eat any animal meat but additionally don’t consume any other foods produced by animals. Some examples include milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, mayo, and honey. Vegans may also choose to avoid other products from animals like beeswax, leather, and silk.
For vegans and vegetarians alike, vegetables are life. And this pie is chock full of them. I recommend using a mandoline slicer to get the slices as thin as possible.
Eat Your Vegetables
This warm vegetable pie is a delicious way to fit veggies into any meal. It is hearty enough to be the main attraction. For carnivores, the pie makes a nice side dish.
Four types of vegetables are used here: carrots, eggplant, yellow squash, and zucchini. They make the layered swirl into a pretty rainbow. Use just one vegetable for a monochromatic look.
The important thing to remember is that the vegetables chosen should have similar cooking times. For example, carrots are root vegetables and take a little longer to cook, so they are softened in hot water before being added. Are you a visual person? Me too. Here is a handy vegetable roasting chart.
Lessons Learned
- This is not the recipe to make if you are in a hurry. There are, however, a few shortcuts you can make: store-bought pie crust and jarred Alfredo (or some other type of sauce).
- Not an Alfredo person? Sub in vegan pesto, marinara, or sundried tomato paste.
- If you are making this vegan, you should know to use non-dairy everything and no egg wash on the pastry.
Hat Tips
Many thanks to Nora Cooks for the vegan pie crust recipe, to Chocolate Covered Katie for the vegan Alfredo sauce recipe, and to Bunsen Burner Bakery for the spiral vegetable tart recipe inspiration.
Spiral Vegetable Pie
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Crust Pre-bake Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 8 slices 1x
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup butter (vegan or regular)
- ¼ cup vegetable shortening
- 4 Tbsp ice water
Alfredo Sauce:
- 1 cup coconut (or other non-dairy) milk
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 5 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- Salt and pepper
Vegetables:
- 2 carrots
- 1 Japanese eggplant
- 2 yellow squash
- 2 zucchini
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Make the crust by combining flour, butter, and shortening in a medium bowl. Cut the butter and shortening into the flour with a pastry cutter or two knives until they are pea-sized and distributed throughout. Add the cold water and stir until it just comes together.
- Gather the dough into a disk shape, press to combine, and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour or overnight. You can also freeze for up to 3 months.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F/176 C. Unwrap and roll out the dough into a 12-inch circle. Place the dough into a 9-inch pie plate.
- Blind bake the crust by placing foil or parchment paper over the pie dough and filling it with pie weights or dry beans. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the pie weights and the foil, then bake for 5 minutes more. Remove from the oven and set aside while you prep the other ingredients.
- Make the sauce by combining the milk, garlic, and flour in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir constantly as the sauce heats up as it will thicken quickly. Remove from heat and let it cool.
- Prep the vegetables by slicing them as thin as you can get them. A mandoline slicer is best to achieve the 1/16-inch thin slices. I slice the carrots first, place them in a large bowl and cover them with boiling water to soften them while I slice the remaining vegetables.
- Once all the veggies are sliced, toss them with olive oil to lightly coat them.
- Assemble the tart by spreading the sauce on the bottom of the crust. Now, you can start adding the veggie slices! Stand the slices on their edge so that the outside skin shows. You can do any color combination you like. I start from the outside edge with the darkest color vegetable and work my way to the center. The concentric circles will be pretty however you decide to do it.
- Brush the veggies lightly with a tablespoon of olive oil if they look dry. If you are not making this vegan then you can also brush the dough with a beaten egg for some shine.
- Once all the vegetables are arranged, bake the pie for 50-ish minutes or until the veggies are tender. Start checking at about 45 minutes to see if the crust is getting too brown. If so, you can cover it with foil.
- Remove the pie from the oven and cool it to room temperature before slicing. This can be made a day ahead and kept in the fridge. Allow it to come to room temp before serving.
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