This creamy spring vegetable pie is so easy to make using ready-made puff pastry. An impressive centrepiece for a cosy dinner, with asparagus, peas and Tenderstem broccoli.
There's blossom on the trees, the bulbs are out, birds are busy building their nests, and we've been planting out our seedlings this week. Spring has most definitely sprung and with it comes asparagus season.
And hurry - the asparagus season lasts just over 8 weeks, so you had better get your skates on to make this vibrant green spring vegetable pie. Tenderstem, peas, asparagus and baby potatoes swim in a creamy sauce with lemon, mustard and fresh herbs, topped with this deeply golden crisp puff pastry.
But don't you need an egg-wash to get pastry with that golden sheen? Not at all - read my top tip further down the page for a perfect vegan pastry glaze.
This cozy pie makes a perfect Sunday lunch served with baby carrots, new potatoes or even a green salad.
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📝 What you need
Ingredients
- Baby new potatoes (any waxy potato - Charlotte, Jersey Royal, Maris Peer, etc)
- Tenderstem broccoli (or ordinary broccoli)
- Asparagus
- Frozen peas
- Leek
- Curly kale (or baby spinach)
- Spring onions
- Lemon
- Fresh parsley (and/or a few leaves fresh mint if you wish)
- Dairy-free butter
- Dairy-free cream
- Dairy-free milk
- Plain flour
- Vegetable stock (check it is vegan)
- Mustard
- Ready-rolled puff pastry (check it is vegan)
- Soy sauce (for the glaze - optional)
Equipment
You don't need anything complex to make this pie - a saucepan, a frying pan, a pie dish and an oven.
The pie dish I used here is 18cm round, similar to this one from Mason Cash. But anything of a similar size will be fine. I often use enamel pie dishes like these as they look so pretty and conduct heat really well too.
A good pastry brush is also handy for getting an even glaze - this one from OXO good grips is excellent.
👩🏽🍳 Top Tip for a perfect vegan pastry glaze
Getting a gorgeously crisp and golden crust on pastry can feel like a bit of a challenge for vegans, as traditional cookbooks will tell you that only an egg wash will do.
Plant milk on its own just doesn't quite get that deep, golden sheen and I've tried quite a few variations of what to add to it, (and eaten a lot of pies and pasties on your behalf - you can thank me later).
For savoury pies like this, soy sauce absolutely tops the list - a few drops added to plant milk adds that lovely deep colour and also a savoury flavour too. It is every bit as good - better in fact - than using an egg wash.
For sweet pies and pastries, I simply add a little icing sugar to the plant milk. It caramelises as it cooks, creating a rich colour and adding a little crust of sweetness to the top of your bakes. Delicious.
If you find your pie crust is colouring just a bit too quickly, you can simply cover it with a piece of kitchen foil for the remaining cooking time to make sure it doesn't burn.
❄️ Freezing
This pie freezes really well, I would just warn that the lovely green colour of the vegetables does fade a bit in freezing. So, if you're making your pie specially to freeze, under-cook the asparagus, peas and broccoli. They just need a minute or two in the water.
You can then make up and even glaze the pie, but freeze it before cooking. Puff pastry that has been cooked is soggy and disappointing when frozen and defrosted but totally unaffected if frozen raw.
I sometimes make up a batch of these pies to freeze in individual ramekins or pie dishes - what a lovely treat to discover in the freezer when you're not in the mood to cook from scratch.
🔪 What else can I make with asparagus
Whilst the short asparagus season is here we need to make the most of it! How about trying:
- Mandy's Roasted Tomato & Asparagus Pasta from Cook Veggielicious
- Helen's Roasted Asparagus from Family Friends Food
- My Herby Giant Cous Cous with Asparagus and Lemon from The Veg Space
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📖 Recipe
Vegetable Pie with asparagus and Tenderstem broccoli
Ingredients
- 3 baby new potatoes (any waxy potato - Charlotte, Jersey Royal, Maris Peer, etc)
- 150 g Tenderstem broccoli
- 200 g asparagus
- 50 g frozen peas
- 25 g dairy-free butter
- 1 leek
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 300 ml vegetable stock
- 100 ml dairy-free cream
- 40 g curly kale
- handful fresh parsley (and/or a few leaves fresh mint if you wish)
- 3 spring onions
- 1 lemon
- 1 tsp mustard
- salt and black pepper
- 150 g ready-rolled puff pastry (check it is vegan)
- 2 tbsp dairy-free milk
- ½ tsp soy sauce (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan) / 400°F / Gas Mark 6. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil.
- Cut the baby potatoes into pieces. Remove the ends of the Tenderstem and separate the florets from the stems, (set aside the florets for now). Cut the stems into pieces 3-4cm long. Boil the potatoes and Tenderstem stems for 3-4 minutes.
- Meanwhile, trim the ends of the asparagus and cut the stalks into pieces. Split the Tenderstem florets into bite-sized pieces. Add these to the saucepan along with the frozen peas, and cook for a further 2-3 minutes - they don't need to be fully cooked through as they will continue cooking inside the pie. Drain and set aside.
- Melt the vegan butter in a frying pan. Trim and slice the leek. Add to the pan, and cook gently for 3-4 minutes until soft.
- Add the flour to the leek, and stir until no lumps remain. Add the vegetable stock and simmer gently until thickened.
- Meanwhile, remove any woody stems from the kale and chop roughly, finely chop the parsley, and slice the spring onions.
- Add the vegan cream to the pan.
- Stir in the kale, parsley, spring onions, mustard and the juice of the lemon. Remove from the heat. Add salt and black pepper, taste and adjust seasoning as required.
- Unroll the puff pastry, then using your pie dish as a template, cut it just a little larger than required. Tip the pie filling into the pie dish.
- Brush the underside of the pastry with water around the edges, then place it over the pie filling, pushing down the edges or crimping with a fork to seal. Use a knife to trim any excess pastry from the edges.
- Make the pastry glaze by mixing the dairy-free milk and soy sauce, then brush all over the pastry. If you like, you can use a sharp knife to make a pattern on the top of the pie at this point.
- Bake the pie for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is golden and crisp throughout - you can lift up a corner of the pastry to check if necessary. If the pastry is turning too brown too quickly, just cover the top with foil.
Made this for my son who has been eating Vegan for almost 12 months now. It was delicious. Such a great way to have a mix of lovely in season summer veg and an easy dish to put together too. I love taking base dishes like this and then adapting them to taste or other ideas. My daughter doesn't like peas so I left them out and put in extra asparagus and kale. You could easily use other veg like chopped up fine beans or cavolo nero or spinach, a splash of white wine maybe? Mint is a strong taste but it came through just right and always reminds me of summer (if we ever get any!)
Thanks Kate - this is a winner in our house 👍😁
That's so great to hear - thanks very much Kerry!
A fabulous pie and I love your tips for getting a golden sheen. Great recipe.
This looks wonderful - a perfect dinner for this time of year.
Thanks for joining in with #CookBlogShare
The creamy sauce sounds divine - perfect with asparagus.
This pie looks amazing and I know it will be perfect for Mother's Day brunch this weekend. Thanks for sharing!
I used regular broccoli since that's what I had in my fridge and it turned out perfect! Everyone in my family loved this, and when the toddler is happy, I'm happy, LOL!
Great to hear, thanks Emily!
This recipe looks incredible -- it'd be perfect for Mother's Day! Thanks for sharing!
Love all the spring veggies in this awesome pie!
This pie looks amazing! Definitely on my to-make list as I know my kids will love it. Thanks 🙂