lentil + mushroom pot pie – a birthday feast

Yesterday I came home for my dad’s birthday. My family doesn’t really know how to celebrate or throw parties, but we do know how to eat… so that’s what we did!

The menu? Lentil and mushroom pot pie with green onion black pepper biscuit crust. Spinach salad with strawberry vinaigrette. Mixed fruit crisp with vanilla coconut milk ice cream. So good, dude.

I’ll post the pictures / recipe for the crisp when I get them from my sister. She tends to be the dessert mastermind in our family.

The strawberry vinaigrette has no recipe – Hannah just threw things into the food processor until she liked what she saw… but it was amazing. I’m sure I’ll try to replicate it this summer. And the salad had green onions, grape tomatoes, walnuts, green apples… delicious.

We found recipes that looked pretty good and then created an Adams-style mash-up. Inspiration included this pot pie from Bon Appetit and my previous success with this biscuit topping from Joy the Baker.

pot pies, pre-oven
 

There’s an ongoing joke in my family about my inability to find cool things when I shop, especially at a certain discount housewares store. Take these ramekins, for example. They are lovely, and the perfect size for individual portions of anything. They belong to my sister. She has a collection of ramekins, all from this particular store, and all purchased for ridiculously little cash. I look for ramekins. I’ve been to this store three or four times looking for ramekins. I’ve never found any. Every time my sister goes, she seems to find a new shipment and adds to her growing ramekin collection. And she doesn’t share. What a jerk.

fresh out of the oven
 

The jokes on her, though. Some day she will feel so guilty about her selfish ramekin ways that she will feel compelled to leave a ramekin peace offering at my house. I’m sure.

onto the table

Needless to say, my dad was pretty stoked with our dinner choices. He’s decided to fall in line with the girls of the family and cut back on the meat. This was a pretty good dish to fulfill this need. Savory, delicious. Vegetarian at it’s finest.

check the salad

Here’s a peek inside. So much goodness.

mmmm-mm
 

I’ll write the recipe as we made it, but this dish is super flexible. We agreed that zucchini or peas could be a delicious addition to the filling. The biscuit recipe could be replaced with your favorite one. This is more of a framework. : )

lentil + mushroom pot pie with scallion biscuit topping.
serves four hungry folks perfectly

biscuit topping

• 1 1/4 c flour
• 1/2 Tbs baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp course ground black pepper
• 1/2 c thinly sliced green onions (green parts only – use bottoms for filling)
• 2 Tbs unsalted butter, cubed
• 2 oz cream cheese
• 1/3 c buttermilk

mix together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pepper, green onions). cut butter and cream cheese into dry ingredients (feel free to use your hands… it’s way more fun that way) until the bits of butter and cheese resemble rolled oats. make a well in the center, and add buttermilk. mix until everything’s moistened, and dump onto a floured surface. knead together and roll out until 1/4-1/2 inches thick. cut as needed for your serving vessels, and pop in the fridge on a cookie sheet until you’re ready for them.

filling

• 1/2 c lentils
•  1/4 tsp salt
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced (the white parts of the onions used for the biscuits)
• 1 medium carrot, roughly chopped
• 2 c crimini mushrooms, quartered
• 2 medium potatoes, cut into chunks
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• 3 large garlic cloves, pressed
• 2 Tbs flour
• 2 Tbs tomato paste
• 3 tsp lite soy sauce
• 1 c dry white wine
• 2 1/2 c water
• parmesan cheese

cook lentils in 3 cups cold water with 1/4 tsp salt. bring to a boil, and then reduce heat and cover. simmer until tender (but not mushy!) – it took about 25 minutes for us.

while the lentils are simmering, heat olive oil over medium heat in a heavy bottomed pot. add onions, and carrots to oil, cooking until onions are translucent – about 5 minutes. add mushrooms, and cook until they release a little moisture – about 5 more minutes. sprinkle mixture with flour and cook until the raw taste is gone – about 3 minutes. add white wine and scrape all the delicious brown bits off the bottom of your pan. add potatoes, thyme, garlic, soy sauce and 2 1/2 water. turn the heat down to low, cover and simmer until potatoes are tender – about 15 minutes. 

if you’re super fancy, and really good at time management, your lentils and your other delicious filling will be done at the same time. add the lentils to the mushroom mixture, and TASTE to make sure that things are going well. if it’s bland, spice it up or add some extra salt! 

spoon filling into buttered ramekins, and top with biscuit. at this point, my sister went to town with some grated parmesan and extra black pepper. 

place ramekins on a baking sheet (the bottom of your oven will thank you) and bake at 400°F until biscuits are nice and golden – about 30 minutes.

make sure you let these bad boys cool off for at least 10 minutes before serving. your tongue will thank you.