Bret Hart, Master of Tarts - Betty Turbo
Here’s a guest post/cookbook review from my friend Agnes of Betty Turbo fame! If you like cake, wrestling, Rocky and Twin Peaks you should definitely check her out! Stay tuned until the end of the post because Agnes is giving away a copy of the Rabbit Food Cookbook to one lucky Bake and Destroy reader!
Tofu Pot Pie from Rabbit Food Cookbook by Beth A. Barnett
Recipe posted with permission of Sasquatch Books.
It’s no secret that I like a little food in my art and art in my food, so a cookbook filled with hundreds of food drawings, block printed illustrations, and tasty hand lettering is pretty much destined to be my new favorite thing ever. I met Beth Barnett at a gathering of local Etsy sellers and knew her as a very talented painter and printmaker before I got my hands on a copy of her cookbook. After several years of sharing completely D.I.Y., self-published editions of her book through her own micropress, Beth is now able to share her recipes with even more people thanks to a 2011 edition hot off the presses of Seattle’s Sasquatch Books. And here it is, for your gustatory pleasure! Rabbit Food Cookbook: Practical Vegan Recipes, Food History, and Other Miscellany.
Way beyond what anyone could possibly dismiss as mere “rabbit food,” this cookbook has an abundance of food for thought as well as food for your belly. Even if you’re not a strict vegan/vegetarian, this book assures us it “will not self-destruct in protest.” Introduce some of these satisfying vegetarian recipes to your palate and see how they get along! The book opens with some cultural and nutritional perspectives on dietary choices, and a great illustrated timeline of the industrialization of food in America. If you’re looking for other hints on making deliberate, conscientious choices about your food lifestyle, there are also some basic gardening tips and instructions for making your own grocery bags.
And then comes the really yummy part. I couldn’t even decide what recipe to start with, so I took full advantage of having the cookbook author just a few miles from my home and proposed a cooking date in Beth’s own kitchen. She came up with the perfect comfort food for a chilly fall day: Tofu Pot Pie. The recipe includes pie crust, gravy, and filling components, and took us about an hour of prep time before baking, which was SO worth it for the delicious results. None of my resident food critics are vegetarian, but they all (including a picky five-year-old) enthusiastically ate this for several consecutive meals, and started scheming about the next occasion we can use as an excuse to bake another one.
Part 1 -Josh’s Pie Crust, top & bottom crusts for one pie
- 1 ¾ Cups unbleached flour
- ½ Cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 Cup plain soymilk
- pinch of salt
Mix everything together; knead. Set aside while preparing filling for pie.
Part 2 – Vegan Nutritional Yeast Gravy
- 2 Cups boiling water
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 vegetable bouillon cube
- 3 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
- about ½ Cup unbleached flour
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp poultry seasoning
- ½ Cup diced onion
Boil water, add the bouillon cube and oil, mix together flour & yeast and then add SLOWLY while whisking, stirring out lumps. Add diced onion last. Stir and cook on low to medium heat until thick. Set aside.
Part 3 – Pot Pie Filling
Start by breading some tofu:
- ¼ Cup flour
- 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
- 1 tsp salt
- ¾ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp poultry seasoning
- 1 lb (block) firm tofu, cubed
Shake to mix everything but the tofu together in paper or plastic bag. Add tofu cubes and shake to coat well.
Beth Barnett preparing some rabbit food in her kitchen
In a large skillet with 2 Tbsp vegetable oil, sauté together on medium heat:
- 1 lb. breaded tofu (from above)
- 1 Cup chopped potato
- 1 Cup chopped celery
- ½ Cup chopped carrot
- ½ Cup green peas
- 1 Cup diced onion
Stir frequently, cooking for about 20 minutes total, or until the potatoes start to soften up. They don’t have to be completely done, as they will cook more in the oven. Remove from heat and mix in the gravy from Part 2.
Part 4 – Directions for Pot Pie Making
Preaheat the oven to 450. Make the dough (Part 1) and then separate it into two slightly unequal pieces. Roll out the larger piece between two sheets of parchment paper (do this, trust me) and then lay it into the pie pan. Cover the crust with foil, fill it with dry beans or pie weights (do this too, trust me!) and bake it for 7 minutes. Remove from oven & set aside the bottom crust + the extra dough.
Decrease oven temperature to 375.
Next! Prepare the nutritional yeast gravy (Part 2) and the breaded tofu and vegetable filling (Part 3) per the instructions. These can be done at the same time, working on the gravy while the tofu and veggies cook.
Then! Add the gravy to the pan of tofu-vegetable filling, mixing well. Then pack it all into the pre-cooked bottom pie crust in the pie pan. Pat down the filling to remove pockets of air.
At last! Roll out the second half of the pie crust dough (between the two pieces of parchment paper). Drape and position the top crust dough over the filling, and pinch it together at the edges with the bottom crust. Using a sharp knife, cut a few decorative vents in the top. Bake your pot pie at 375 for 30 minutes.
tasty tofu pot pie performing a magical disappearing act
For artwork and other things from Beth, check out her website – and don’t miss Agnes’ shop either!
Check out the rest of Beth’s virtual book tour:
- October 24—Cake Maker to the Stars
- October 25—Cook Vegan Lover
- October 26—Bake and Destroy
- October 27—Carrie on Vegan
- October 28—Vegancraftastic
- October 29—Manifest Vegan
- October 30—Andrea’s Easy Vegan Cooking
- October 31—Vegansaurus
I WOULD LOVE TO WIN!! (I hated writing “want” for fear of sounding too Veruca. Especially since I was planning on screechingthe whole sentence…)
Ummm yes that looks amazing!
I live in a vegetarian household with 22 other college students. We NEED this, yo!
And please and thank you Natalie and BT for posting a gravy recipe in time for Thanksgiving. Usually I just do without, but last year I attempted to make homemade vegetarian gravy and ended up eating it more to spite my brothers who teased me over it rather than because it tasted good (“fucking awful” doesn’t even cover it).
I want this!
I have been in such a mood for pot pie. Wow. I would be ecstatic to win this.
I’d love to win! Been trying to make pies to recreate what a Kiwi friend experienced back home.
I would love to win this! I’ve been wanting to get a vegan cookbook for a while now, but haven’t had the funds.
yes please! pot pies are the ultimate comfort foods
I’d love to win. This looks delicious!
Oh my goodness, get in my belly. I would love to win!
What a great little book! I’d love to win!
Mmm. Tofu and nutritional yeast in a pie. Delicious. Please count me in!
Sounds like an awesome book. I would LOVE to win!
I’m a Canadian but wanted to say that this looks delicious and would be an awesome book to add to our home.
I want to win, so many recipes sound fantastic!
Yes, please! I would love to win this. It’s definitely going on my wishlist for future purchases as $$ allows.
I want to win! This recipe looks delicious 🙂
This recipe looks really good. Lately, one of my coworkers has been eating microwave chicken (yuk) pot pies often, so I’ve been thinking about making a veg version. I’d love to win this cookbook
I would love to win the cookbook because I’m a bunny and this book would be really appropriate for me and my diet needs…and I like to cook so this would be good.
I wanna win, thanks!
I’d like to win. I’m pretty carnivorous but i’m also adventurous and open-minded. There’s not too many vegan places near me, so it would be cool to try the stuff in this book.this book.
Yes, please, I want to win…many thanks!
I would love to win!
I’d love to win!
Hoping to win! Sounds better than the books I get at the library.
I’m always on the lookout for more exciting cookbooks. Thank you for offering this giveaway and yes, I would love to win!
I would love this book. Creative, amazing illustrations … sounds great!
Yum! I would love this 🙂
iwanttowinthis
I want this cookbook. Perhaps even more so I want to make this Pot Pie.
After making the pot pie, I will however need the entire book.
this would sure beat all of the “fun sized” candy bars i have been eating today!!
Yes, i wanna win!
I want to win so hard.
For the party’s I cater/host and Baking Time W my daughter, THIS would be a delight in my home.
I’d love to win this!
Yes! I’ve been trying to prepare more vegan meals, burin not that creative in the kitchen. This book sounds wonderful!
My hubby and I have been eating vegan for about 2 months now and I would love to have this cookbook!!
I would LOVE to win a copy! We’ve just gone vegan a couple months ago and it’s amazing recipes like this that keep us going in the right direction!
This book is perfect. If I don’t win it, I’m definitely buying it. My nickname is Bunny. And I love cookbooks. I need a veggie anonymous book, too. “Hi, my name is Bunny, and I have a carrot problem.”
i wanna win!
I wanna cookbook! <3
i wanna win!!!
I would be thrilled to win this! Would cheer me up tremendously!!
yes yes yes!
Oooh, yes, please! This pot pie looks awesome. Thanks for the giveaway.
This looks amazing! I want one:)
winning…want!
I rarely make any vegetarian or vegan food and would love to try it. Thanks!
um…DUH! gimme gimme
Me gimme mine! I mean, please sign me up.