Vegan Pasta Pie with Mushrooms, Garlic and Tomatoes

This savory pie recipe reminds me of a roasted vegetable frittata. Or my Roasted Vegetable Noodle Kugel, even. I invented it because I was craving a simple one-dish pie for supper- something easy and light and bordering on picnic food- with guaranteed leftovers. Because- and I tell you this with all the happy feet gyrations of a gypsy heart locked inside a hot flashing nest-eschewing body- we're boxing books again- we're storing art and family pictures and files and (most of) our movie collection. We're selling our furniture, consigning everything from roomy chairs and Mexican tables to Kilim pillows and punched tin mirrors. A truck arrives today to haul the lot to Santa Fe.

Even though the house has not sold.

We're itchy to move on. Can you blame us? It's been two years trying to sell, dropping our price (twice), tidying and polishing and buying flowers for showings. Simmering cinnamon sticks on the stove to welcome potential buyers. I spent days of my life for this sole purpose- to sell this place. My magic hasn't worked out here in the desert. Last week it occurred to me, maybe we just need to move on? Get on with our lives. Let it go. Empty out our space to create some quantum level energy shift (do I even believe in quantum level energy shifts?).

This quasi-quantum theory of mine used to work at art galleries. If you had a painting hanging for awhile, all you had to do to pique someone's appetite for it was remove it. Stick it in the storage room. Take it back to the studio. Decide not to sell it. The next day, some haunted soulful buyer would inevitably wander in, eyes wide and searching, and ask about it. Did it sell? The one I can't live without?

We're leaving the keys with our Realtor. Hoping the whole painting is gone mojo will cross over into home buying. I don't know where we'll end up, exactly. We'll be driving to California by the end of the month, Honda Fit packed with summer tees and jeans and flip flops, two computers, a camera, Flip Video, a Vita-Mix, wok and ice cream maker. Joy of Cooking. Jim Harrison essays. A cooler stuffed with Blueberry Brownie Bites, Gluten-Free Multi-Grain Sandwich Bread and Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies.

And if anyone knows of a furnished summer rental in the Venice Beach area, Darling, shoot me an e-mail. And tell me- what 10 DVD's would you take with you to a pared down bare bones summer by the ocean?

Vegan Pasta Pie Recipe

Make extra spaghetti the day before to use as a base in this pie (tip: rinse it with hot water before using to soften it; drain well). As for veggies- I used the vegetables I had on hand, but you could also roast cut green beans, chopped broccoli, red pepper, red onion or scallions.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Lightly oil a deep 9-inch pie plate and set aside.

You'll need:

1 1/2 to 2 cups cooked gluten-free spaghetti noodles (I used Tinkyada White Rice Spaghetti)

2 cups vegetables for roasting: leek, mushrooms, grape tomatoes

2-3 cloves garlic, chopped

Olive oil

Dried Italian Herbs: basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, to taste

Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste

Vegan white sauce- recipe follows

1/2 cup gluten-free cornbread crumbs

Fresh chopped rosemary, to taste

6 trimmed fresh asparagus spears for the top

Slice up a leek, and mushrooms and toss them into a roasting pan. Add enough grape tomatoes to bring the amount to heaping cups or so. Drizzle with a little olive oil. Season with sea salt and ground pepper, herbs; toss to coat. Roast in the preheated oven till tender- about 30 minutes or so.

In the meantime make your white sauce.

Basic Vegan White Sauce Recipe

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons brown rice or sorghum flour
1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk
3 tablespoons white wine- optional
1 teaspoon prepared GF mustard
Pinch of nutmeg
Minced onion and garlic, to taste

Instructions:

In a sauce pan heat the oil over medium heat. Add the GF flour; whisk and cook briefly. The flour will thicken into a paste. Add the non-dairy milk a little at a time and keep whisking. When the sauce has thickened, add the wine, mustard, nutmeg, minced onion and garlic, and stir till thickened and silky.

This is your basic vegan white sauce.

Now we're going to make it a little eggy for the pie.

You'll need:


1 tablespoon flaxseed meal

Ener-G Egg Replacer for two eggs
2 tablespoons millet flour, sorghum flour, or rice flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Add a tablespoon of hot water to the flaxseed meal and allow it to thicken into a gel.

Mix up the Ener-G Egg Replacer.

Add the flaxseed gel, Ener-G Egg Replacer, flour, and baking powder to the Vegan White Sauce. Whisk to combine; cook gently to thicken. Remove from heat and set aside.

Instructions:

When the veggies are roasted, layer the cooked pasta in the prepared pie plate. Pour in the vegan white sauce mixture and shimmy the noodles a bit to allow the sauce to seep in. Top with the roasted veggies.

Toss the cornbread crumbs in a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle over the pie. Press down a bit to compact the layers. Sprinkle with chopped fresh rosemary. Arrange the uncooked asparagus spears on the top.

Bake in the center of the oven for 25 minutes or so, till piping hot.

Allow the pie to rest for 5 minutes before slicing and serving. Use a sharp knife to slice and a pie shaped spatula/server.

Makes six slices.

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

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