The reason this Vegan Mushroom Bourguignon Pie came about was all down to Tristan (Louise's Husband). We were having a chat about what we could make this year for the Christmas main. We'd done a beautiful Chestnut, Squash & Mushroom Wreath Pie made with filo pastry last year and stuffed squash twice, once with Chickpeas & Sage and once a whole pumpkin filled with Chilli. All of which are amazing in their own right.
We also didn't want to do a Wellington or a Nut Loaf, mostly because there are a bazillion recipes out there for them, and also because as Tristan said, we need something with lots of saucyness. Because after all, Christmas is all about the gravy. You can never have too much of it. Don't worry, we also have another gravy recipe that we served with it, we aren't just relying on the pie to provide it!
We also wanted something pretty. After all, when everyone is gathered around the table, you really want 'oooh's and ahhhh's when you bring something out that looks spectacular. Not. Oh. A brown loaf. Yay. We're in the business of slowly converting everyone we know to the Vegan ways.. mostly by feeding them delicious and irresistible food. Christmas is the perfect time to wow people and dispel misconceptions about vegan food being leaves and dirt. Which is where a delicious pie, stuffed full of mushrooms that have been slow cooked in delicious red wine is definitely an ally!
Now, we need to make sure that the wine that the mushrooms are cooked in is Vegan. What's that you say? Not all wine is vegan?! Nope. Sadly it is not. Lots of wines are filtered with egg whites or even fish swim bladders (!). However it is now super easy to find great vegan wine. If you do your grocery shopping online, most supermarkets + wine stores have a search function that will filter out Vegan wines. Our favourite right now is Proudly Vegan wines. They have a small but perfectly formed selection of wine that is vegan, and delicious too! Yay! They kindly gifted us some wine to try, and I have to say, a whole bottle of it went making the pie & the gravy (recipe coming soon!) You can buy it from Ocado & on Amazon! (affiliate links!)
We made the Mushroom Bourguinon pie filling with a slightly adapted version of Vanessa's Mushroom & Smoked Tofu Bourguignon recipe. I thickened the sauce to be a little less runny and added rather a lot more wine to it!
The pastry is a hot crust pastry which I find is easiest to work with when you're making pies. To be really traditional I made a completely enclosed pie, and I have written out the instructions for how to do this if you would like to go with a fully crusted pie, however the taste testers felt that it wasn't really necessary, and just a pie 'lid' would be fine. After all, you want to fill up on roast potatoes, not just pie crust. Also, don't worry if you make mistakes or rip a bit when putting the lid on the pie. Cut some cute little stars or shapes from offcuts of pastry & use those to cover up the boo boos!
To be efficient, it's ideal to make the Mushroom Bourguignon filling the day before. Let it chill overnight (Don't put hot filling into pastry! It doesn't work!!) You could even make it two days ahead and reheat the whole pie. It's pretty resilient and reheats beautifully. Perfect for when you're catering for a crowd. Or to bring along to Christmas if you've promised to bring along the vegan option!
Serve with delicious roast potatoes, more gravy , roasted veggies and of course, sprouts!
Vegan Mushroom Bourguignon Pie
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
For the Bourguignon
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- 600 g (8½ cups) chestnut / button / wild mushrooms We used a mix of chestnut and wild mushrooms. (Shitake Chantarelle or Enoki mushrooms are particularly delicious)
- 250 g (1 cup) smoked tofu / tofu facon (or make your own - recipe below, chopped into pieces (optional - can just use mushrooms if preferred))
- 1 medium white onion (chopped)
- 2 medium carrots peeled (chopped)
- 6 garlic cloves (crushed or minced finely)
- 2 tablespoon thyme dried or fresh
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 cloves
- 2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 3 drops liquid smoke (or an extra teaspoon of smoked paprika)
- 470 ml (2 cups) vegetable stock
- 60 ml (¼ cup) tamari (or soy sauce)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 40 g (¼ cup) corn starch (this is to thicken the sauce- you could use plain flour if you like! )
- 700 ml (3 cups) vegan red wine ( )
- Salt and pepper
For the Pie Crust
- 400 g (3 cups) plain flour
- 135 g (½ cup) neutral coconut oil or vegan butter substitute
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 200 ml (0.85 cups) plant milk oat or soy is best
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
To make the Bourguignon
- Prepare the tofu. Chop into pieces and fry in olive oil first so they are crispy on the outside.
- In a flame-proof heavy casserole dish, heat up the olive oil.
- Add the onions and carrots, and cook until they are softened.
- Add the garlic, cloves, salt, pepper, bay leaves, smoked paprika and thyme. Then add salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes.
- Add the red wine. Cook for 10 minutes, allowing it to reduce a bit.
- Add the tomato paste, tamari, vegetable stock and liquid smoke. Whisk in the flour.
- Chop the mushrooms finely and add to the dish.
- Leave covered to simmer on a slow heat for at least 2 hours. This will allow all the flavours to build and mellow.
- Leave to cool completely. Preferable overnight.
To make the Pie & Crust
- Melt the coconut oil and mix together with the plant milk (you want it to be slightly warm)
- Mix the baking powder & salt in with the flour.
- Slowly add the oil & plant milk to the flour and mix together to form a soft ball of dough.
- Knead it together then put in the fridge to cool.
- NB: leave in the fridge for around half an hour. If you leave it for longer it will be hard to work with. If that happens, leave it out for 10-15 mins until it warms up a bit!
- Roll out the dough on a floured surface.
- If you are making the pie with a bottom, set aside enough dough to make the pastry lid.
- If doing a pie bottom: Roll out the dough so it is large enough to fit over your pie dish with plenty left over.
- Fit the dough into the pastry dish, making sure there are no holes. Leave a little over the edges as the crust will shrink when pre-cooking it.
- Add a layer of baking paper over the top of the pie crust and put pastry beans on top to prevent the pie crust bubbling up as it cooks.
- Put into a moderate (180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4) oven for about 20 mins to cook the crust through. You might want to put foil over the edges to prevent them burning.
- Once crisp, take from out of the oven & get ready to fill and top it.
- If you are making just the pastry lid, ignore the how to do the bottom bit & start here!
- Roll out the pastry to generously cover the top of the pie dish.
- Cut some shapes out to let the steam escape (I used dinky little stars!)
- Fill the pie dish with the bourguignon.
- Lay the pastry over the pie, and crimp the crust with your fingers to create a seal. Decorate with bits of left over pastry (Especially useful if you have some uneven bits to cover up!).
- Brush with a mix of plant milk & oil. I added a teensy bit of turmeric for a lovely glossy yellow colour.
- Put in the oven for approximately 25 minutes, until crispy. Watch the edges don't burn!
- Serve as part of a celebration meal!
Jeff Farrow says
Very good, my family loved it!