Veggie Curry Pies

One quick note - this post was written 6 days ago last Sunday, but before I could publish it, my laptop was stolen by Nick because his crashed during their Fantasy Football draft.  I wasn't happy, but the post was too full of reminiscing and pre-schoolyear-blues that I decided to keep it the way it was written, even though we have now survived 2 days of professional development and 3 days with students!


So sorry if the majority of this post doesn't make much sense... I am half asleep tonight after our first day back at work!  As usual, I spent most of the night awake, worrying that I wasn't going to get enough sleep - such a vicious cycle.  We have one more day of professional development stuff, and then students start Wednesday.  This is my first year as Mrs. Ajemian, which is kind of cool.  But I would still give anything to rewind life to the beginning of the summer, or even to one month ago today... one month ago at this exact second, I was dancing in a gorgeous white dress with a cute new husband :)

Or, I could rewind even farther to my first home-cooked meal of the summer!  School ended for us on a Friday, and that night I went straight up to Seabrook for vacation (and Mark went off on his bachelor party in Portland, which also happened to coincide with Gay Pride weekend, which was awesome).  When we got home, it was our first time to actually relax here in our new house without school, work, vacation, or anything until the wedding!  And these beautiful pot pies were screaming my name.  They are vegetarian, of course, filled with a curry with delicious veggies like eggplant, sweet potato and regular potato, and peas.  Plus there are cashews in there for a great crunch, and flavored with lime juice, curry, coconut milk, and sesame oil.  Unlike most pot pies, these are made with puff pastry, which is only used as a top (there is no bottom pie crust).  They're really, really good.  Lots of textures and flavors in cute little ramekins that are perfect for portion control!  I also found they reheated pretty well, which you don't always expect in a pot pie.  I kept the extras in the fridge and we ate them over the next week.  They stayed delicious.

I miss summer already, but here's to a new school year, and my first season as a married lady :)

Recipe:

veggie curry pies
from Fast Fresh Vegetarian by Metro Books
makes 4 pies

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium yellow onion, sliced
2 tablespoons penang curry paste (I couldn't find it, but curry powder worked okay; I just used a little less)
1 cup coconut milk
2 baby finger eggplants, peeled and sliced
1 medium potato, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 small sweet potato, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 cup coarsely chopped roasted cashews
1 cup frozen peas
2 sheets puff pastry
1 egg, beaten lightly

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2) Heat vegetable oil in a medium saucepan or wok over medium-high heat.  Cook onion, stirring, 3 minutes or until softened.  Add curry paste; cook a further 2 minutes or until fragrant.  Stir in coconut milk; bring to a simmer.  Add eggplant, potato and sweet potato; cook, covered, 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

3) Remove from heat; stir in juice, sesame oil, nuts and peas.  Season to taste.  Cool to room temperature.

4)  Meanwhile, using one of four 1-cup ramekins as a guide, cut out 4 rounds from pastry, 3/4 inch larger than the dish.

5) Spoon curry mixture evenly into ramekins.  Lightly brush outer rims of ramekins with a little egg; cover with pastry lids, pressing overhanging pastry against the sides.  Brush pastry with a little more egg.  Cut a small slit in the top of each pie.  Place pies on an oven tray.

6) Bake pies 15 minutes or until golden.