Dinner Winner-Vegetable Pot Pie

We LOVE this recipe at the Martin house! Adapted from "Clean Food" by Terry Walters . We also love this cookbook, it's never failed me and this recipe is quickly becoming a fall staple. Seriously, and we've even had a few non-vegetable eaters tell us that they love it. It takes some advanced prep for roasting the squash. The chopping is the hard part, the cooking is easy.

My two "what are those" food highlights are delicata squash and arrowroot powder.

Delicata=delicious! This is one of my favorite winter squashes, with creamy pulp that tastes a bit like corn and sweet potatoes. Size may range from 5 to 10 inches in length. The squash can be baked or steamed and the skin is also edible.

Arrowroot powder-one of my "go to" thickners. Made from the Arrowroot plant and used as a gluten-free replacement for wheat flours in baking. It is also considered more desirable for gravies, sauces and pastries than some of the more common starches and flours. It thickens at a lower temperature over cornstarch and flour. It doesn't mix well with dairy. Substitute two teaspoons of arrowroot for one tablespoon of cornstarch, or one teaspoon of arrowroot for one tablespoon of wheat flour. It's acutally nutritous as is the only starch to contain calcium ash, making it a preferred in baby foods. It's alkalizing as well.

Ingredients:

2 med delicata squash
2 TB extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
3 celery stalks, diced
2 TB of mirin
1/2 lb of green beans trimmed
1 1/2 cups of fresh or frozen corn
3/4 cup water
2 TB Braggs Liquid Aminos
2 TB of arrowroot powder
Fresh ground black pepper
1 frozen 9 inch pie crust, defrosted-I used organic spelt

Preheat oven to 400.

Roasting Squash

Wash squash well, cut in half lengthwise, removed seeds and rub each section with oil. Place cut side down in a glass baking pan or cookie sheet and roast 25 min or until soft throughout. Remove and set aside.

Preparing Filling

In Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat, saute onion in olive oil until soft (about 3 min). Add carrots, celery, and mirin (rice wine) and saute another 3 minutes. Cut green beans into bite size pieces, add to pot along with corn and saute 5 minutes or until beans are starting to soften. Chop squash into bite size pieces and fold into mixture.



In small bowl, whisk together water, liquid aminos, and arrowroot until smooth. Pour into pot with veggies and stir until liquid starts to thicken. Season to taste with pepper. Remove from heat and transfer to a casserole dish.



Finishing

Crumble pie crust over top of casserole and cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 8 or until top is lightly browned. Serve.