This past week was British Pie Week. I’m sure that all of your social media feeds, just like mine, were packed with wonderful pie creations. Fruit pies. Savoury pies. Single crust pies. Double crust pies. Rustic pies. Pretty pies.
Given that our household is a great big fan of pies I couldn’t let British Pie Week pass by without coming up with another pie recipe.
This delicious Beetroot & Lentil Pie has such a wonderful earthy flavour courtesy of the roasted beets. And just check out that amazing colour once the pie is sliced into! There’s definitely no need for food colourant in this recipe thanks to the amazing pigments the beetroot has. For that very reason I’d also recomend wearing something different to your favourite white blouse / shirt when preparing (or even eating) this lovely savoury vegan pie! Rubber gloves also come in useful too whilst skinning them after they have been roasted.
This vegan beetroot & lentil pie was actually inspired by a recent visit to a local award winning vegetarian cafe, Ginger, here in West Yorkshire. The couple who run it, Mark & Claire, are so friendly and helpful, and their dishes are not only largely vegan but they also embrace a significant number of gluten free options too. It’s certainly a lovely eatery to stop at to re-fuel if you’re ever in the area!
Anyway, it was dad’s 70th birthday and the three of us, as Mr E was at work, felt the need to mark the actual day (he has some other actitivities to celebrate coming up too). We all loved our respective meals at Ginger, including dessert (you surely can’t celebrate a birthday without a dessert!), mum having had a vegetarian sausage and mash, dad a butternut squash and sweet potato curry whilst I opted for the beetroot and lentil pie which came with sauted potatoes and vegetables. It was the perfect meal. Not only was it warming and filling, perfect for the the cold snap of weather outside, and nutritious and colourful too, but it was also amazingly delicious. I just had to try to recreate it at home!
I have to say that I love beetroot. As a child I by far preferred it pickled alongside a salad. I fondly recall having a salad every Sunday, during the summer months, at my Grandmas where I would mix the hard boiled egg yolk with the purple vinegar which surrounded the beetroots. In my mind, as an 8 year old, it was the best part! These days my tastes have refined, a little, and I find myself thoroughly loving roasted beetroot! There is such depth of flavour and aroma brought about by roasting fresh beets. It is these fresh roasted beets which were used to fill our vegan pie, along with lentils, tomatoes, red onion, a little vegan cheese and thyme.
Now, if you’re a regular to Only Crumbs Remain you may well know of my fondness for making pastry. I just love both making it and eating it. However I’ve never made a vegan pastry having always made it with some form of animal product. As a child and young teen mum and I would always use a 50/50 ratio of lard and margarine in our pastry, and these days I ordinarily use butter. So, with our beetroot & lentil pie being vegan, clearly the type of fat used needed to be addressed. Having looked online at vegan pastry recipes, I chose to use olive oil in our recipe. I must admit I was a little scepticle in using an oil in the mix rather than a
solidified fat but I’ve definitely changed my mind. I’m now sold on
this vegan pastry. It melted in the mouth as it should, was short, and
full of flavour. And happily, because it contains oil rather than butter
(or even lard), it’s a much healthier option.
Now, Mr E sadly doesn’t care for beetroot. So being the good wifie that I am I made him his new favourite pie, Homity Pie, whilst I enjoyed this beetroot & lentil pie myself. Although it was a relatively small pie, at just 16cm, it was clearly far too large for one person, but it proved to be just as lovely served with a little salad for lunch the following day too.
So, here’s how to make Beetroot & Lentil Vegan Pie!
recipe which is perfect served with vegetables and potatoes or a simple
salad.
Hands on time: around 20 mins Bake time: about 60 – 70 mins Yield: 1 x 16cm pie, serving 3 – 4 people.
Specific Equipment
1 x 16cm pie dish
For the Vegan Pastry
- 280g Plain Flour
- pinch Salt
- 70ml Olive Oil (or sunflour oil, vegetable oil, grapeseed oil, groundnut oil)
- 5-6 tbsp Water
For Beetroot & Lentil Pie Filling
- 3 good sized fresh Beetroots
- 2 sprigs Thyme
- Sunflower Oil (or vegetable oil, grapeseed oil, groundnut oil)
- 1 small Red Onion
- 10 Cherry Tomatoes
- 150g -180g Tinned Lentil (drained weight)
- 50g Vegan Cheese, grated (optional)
- Seasoning
- Dairy-free milk, to glaze
Notes:
a) Be aware that the beetroots can stain. You may find it useful to wear a pair of rubber gloves whilst preparing them.
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Choclette Blogger
This sounds absolutely delicious Angela. I do love a good pie, but I'm pretty sure I've never tried one with beetroot. Pinned.
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Ooh you definitely need to change that Choclette, they make a great addition to pies 😀
Angela x
Nico @ yumsome
Such a gorgeous recipe, thanks so much for contributing it to my Father's Day round-up, Angela; the link is here if you'd like to share it across your social media… http://www.yumsome.com/15-manly-mouth-watering-vegan-recipes-for-fathers-day/
Have a fab weekend! xx
Unknown
Wow! My family and I just finished this pie, and I had to come back and thank you for the recipe! It was amazing! We did one thing different, who has was to chop the beets fist and then bake them to save some time, but it was incredibly delicious! I was sad to eat the last bite.
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Hi, I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed the pie so much, and such a great tweek on preparing the beets.
Thanks for feedback,
Angela
Johanna GGG
this pie looks delicious – I am interested to hear that your vegan pastry worked – I am not much of a pastry maker but I have tried a few vegan pastries that work really well – I think I have tried the olive oil version though I am a bit forgetful of which ones I have tried. The beetroot centre look very striking – I love beetroot too.
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Thankyou Johanna, that beetroot filling is very eye catching isn't it! Vegan pastry is very new to me, as I mentioned in the post – but I'm seriosuly impressed by how well the oil worked in place of the butter.
Angela x
Jacqueline Meldrum
I love beets and it looks wonderful. Thanks for submitting it to Meat Free Monday. The roundup is now live and your recipe has been featured.
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Awe thankyou Jacqueline, I'll be popping round to have a read of the other ideas!
Angela x
Rebecca Beesley
wow what vibrant colour of the beetroot in that pie! and sounds really good for you too! x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Doesn't the colour just pop! Yeah, I'd say it was healthy Rebecca even though it's a pie with pastry.
Angela x
Lucy Allen
what a gorgeous pie filling, I just love the vivid colour! I've been using lentils this week too, really handy in a tin aren't they. I wlil have to give this a go, it sounds so good and is perfect for a chilly day.
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
It's an amazing colour isn't it! Really eye catching when sliced into. I love tinned lentils – they're amazing, so much easier than soaking and boiling the dried one!
Thanks for your lovely comment Lucy,
Angela x
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins
We all love beetroot and often grow it in the garden. But it is Little I would absolutely adores it! She cannot get enough, this is a must make! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
I love beetroot too, but sadly I don't use it anywhere newar as often as I'd like to seen as hubby doesn't care for it! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did if you give a try Kirsty,
Angela x
Shaheen
I love beetroot pie, its one of my husband favourites. I haven't made it in a while, i think the last time was around Halloween. If I am in Yorkshire. I will have to check out Ginger. I do like pie, but haven't made any recently as I have been mostly on a Stew kick, your pie gets the thumbs up, esp. as a Beetroot convert in both savoury and sweet things
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
I have to admit that beetroot pie was a first for me when I tried it in the veggie cafe, and was so pleased when i loved it as much as I did, it held so much flavour! Ooh if you're ever in West yorkshire I'd definitely recomend checking out Ginger – they have such an interesting and tastey menu Shaheen!
Angela x
Hannah
Yum! I've been on a pie-making kick recently as I bought the Pieminister 'Pie for all Seasons' book, which has got some great recipes in there. Using oil in the pastry is a great shout, wouldn't have thought of doing that, but makes perfect sense! That purple is on point ?
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Ooh I've not seen 'Pie for all Seasons book' it sounds just our sort of book too! I was really pleasantly surprised when I came to eat the pastry, I really wasn't expecting to like anywhere near as much as I did to be honest. I'll definitely be making it again, especially when I cook for my parents who are very conscious about the type of fats they eat.
Angela x
Monika Dabrowski
Oh Angela! This is such a beautiful recipe, and it includes my favourite vegetable too! An unconventional pie recipe, plus you made it vegan too. I think I need to get some beetroot today:)
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Aw thankyou Monika 🙂
Angela x
Corina
I do like the look of this pie Angela – It's so colourful and bright! I have to admit I'm always a little nervous of making things with beetroot because of it staining everything but I do love it roasted! Thanks so much for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice!
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Haha, I know just what you mean about be nervous with beetoot for fear of ir staining everything! Happily I made a conscious effort to wear my apron and rubber gloves whilst I handled them and as luck would have it all the colour stayed just where it was meant to!
Thanks for popping by and commenting Corina,
Angela x