Last week’s cooler weather struck me with major cravings for the rich comfort foods that are often pushed aside in the summer months in favor of lighter fare.  After a friend told me she had made chicken pot pie I couldn’t shake the idea out of my head- I needed pot pie.  Badly.  I’m not one to yearn for (or cook) foods of the Americana, but this time I was determined to make it happen.  So I set off on a mission to create a pot pie that had all the classic elements of comfort but with a Vbar twist.  And although it was my first attempt, I am confident in calling it a great success.

The fabulous Barefoot Contessa provided the primary inspiration for this venture, and her recipe can be found here. If you do a comparison between my pie and Ina’s you’ll see that I stayed fairly loyal, but there were a few important substitutions, mainly in the area of seasoning, mainly due to my kitchen not having the financial resources of the Contessa’s (Saffron?  Really?).  And, probably most essentially, I used a store-bought crust, simply in the interest of time, patience and  certain squemishness with being confronted with using that much butter in a single dish.

Ingredients

• 12 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups sliced yellow onions (2 onions)
• 1 1/2 tblsp. of fennel seeds, lightly toasted
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 2 tsp paprika, or more to taste
• 1 tsp. turmeric
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups large-diced potatoes (1/2 pound)
• 1 1/2 cups asparagus tips
• 1 1/2 cups peeled, 3/4-inch-diced carrots (4 carrots)
• 1 1/2 cups peeled, 3/4-inch-diced yams, sweet potatoes or butternut squash (I used yam)
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1/2 cup minced flat-leaf parsley

Follow Ina’s directions, adding the fennel with the stock and the turmeric and paprika into the sauce as you go.  Subbing the sweet potatoes for squash and add the  corn with the asparagus.  Feeds 6 people comfortably.

Here is a picuture of the filling on the stove:

veggie pot pie filling

And pre-bake: