Gluten-Free, Vegetarian Chicken Pot Pies

Back in our carnivorous days, this recipe from Sunset Magazine was one of our favorites. Single-serving chicken pot pies, full of steamy vegetables and a savory sauce, was a delicious winter-time feast. Since then, we have forsaken the meat and the gluten-full flour. Based on those wonderful Smart Strips, the faux chicken strips from Lightlife, we have recreated this dish to fit our dietary needs. I believe that none of the flavor was lost.

For the biscuit topping, I used this recipe from the Gluten-Free Cooking School. The only change I made was to replace the egg with a flaxseed "egg". I must admit that this recipe created a dough that was too wet, but that just may be something peculiar about my ingredients. Next time, I will decrease the amount of liquid.

Ingredients

2 ½ c chicken broth
3 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
4 T olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
12 small cremini or button mushrooms, finely chopped
1 t chopped fresh thyme
5 T gluten-free flour, like brown rice flour
1 c milk
¼ t nutmeg
2 t salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 t finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 ½ c Smart Strips chicken, chopped
¼ c frozen sweet peas

Steps

1. In a medium saucepan over high heat, bring chicken stock to a boil. Add carrots, potatoes, and celery. Lower heat to medium and cook until vegetables are tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain vegetables, reserving stock; set both aside separately.

2. In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook until golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook 5 minutes. Add fresh thyme and the gluten-free flour and cook 2 minutes. Slowly add milk, whisking constantly, until combined, then add stock and cook, stirring often, until mixture thickens, 8 to 10 minutes. Season with nutmeg, 1 tsp. salt, and pepper to taste. Add parsley, "chicken", cooked vegetables, and peas and divide filling evenly among 6 or 7 ovenproof containers (8 to 10 oz. each), leaving the top ¼ inch unfilled.

3. Preheat oven to 425°. Make the biscuit dough according to the recipe. Drop the dough on top of the chicken mixture evenly, lightly smoothing down the tops.

4. Put potpies on a cookie sheet and bake until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling, 17 to 22 minutes.

Faux Meat

One of the goals of Evolution Kitchen is to adapt meat dishes to vegetarian. A reader once asked why would a vegetarian want to eat food that tastes like meat. Certainly there are those who truly detest the taste and/or texture of meat, but I believe many vegetarians are that way based on religious, health, economic, or moral reasons; it has nothing to do with disliking the taste of meat.


Vegetarians have a large arsenal of faux meats to get them by. There is tofu, beans, tempeh, TVP, seiten, and a variety of packaged foods that resemble meat in flavor and texture but are completely animal free. Most of these, however, have wheat gluten in them, so my wife can't eat them, but there is one product from Lightlife called Smart Strips she can eat.


These come in 6-oz packages of chicken and beef, and they fill in quite well for meat in recipes. They have good flavor and they readily brown in a skillet. We recently picked up a package of beef and I wanted to try it out. So I found the following recipe in a Carribean cookbook, which I modified to use the strips, plus some other modifications.

Pepper Steak in Sherry Cream Sauce

Ingredients

1 Pkg Smart Strips, beef flavor
½ t Jamaican jerk seasoning
¼ t cayenne pepper
1 t paprika
½ t chili powder
1 small onion, sliced thin
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 T olive oil, separated
¼ c sherry
2 T sour cream
3 T water
salt and pepper to taste

Steps

1. mix the spices (jerk seasoning, cayenne, paprika, and chili powder) together in a bowl. Add the beef strips and stir to blend. Set aside for about 15 minutes.

2. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add 2 T olive oil. Saute the beef strips until browned. Remove from heat back to the bowl.

3. Add the remaining 1 T oil to the skillet and lower heat to medium. Add the onion and garlic and saute for 3-5 minutes until onion is soft and slightly golden.

4. Add the sherry and simmer for 5 minutes.

5. Mix the sour cream and water together, then add to the pan. Stir well to combine. Add the beef strips back to the skillet and cook another 2-3 minutes to heat through.

6. Serve over rice.