Veggie Mini-Pies

Tonight I had no plans for dinner.  I have been trying to plan a whole week's worth of menus, but I really only tend to come up with about four for a whole week, and I was out of plans tonight.  I decided to see what fun thing I could come up with on the fly, and decided on making some individual-sized pot pies.  I was going to do chicken but all my chicken was frozen, so I went with just veggies.  You could, of course, use chicken (or any meat).  Just throw it in when the recipe says to put in the veggies.  The great thing about pies is you really could throw in or take out most of the solid ingredients and it would still taste great.  So tailor this to what you have in your kitchen, and enjoy a hot beautiful pie for dinner.  This is the recipe the way I made it.

Veggie Mini-Pies

Ingredients:
1 sheet frozen puff pastry
1 T olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
1 cup peas, corn, or mixed vegetables (fresh, frozen, or canned)
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
1 cup milk, divided
2 T flour
1/2 cup water
1 cup chicken broth
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 425F.  Remove puff pastry from freezer and lay out to thaw.

In a large saucepan heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Add the onion and garlic and saute for 1 minute.  Add all vegetables, thyme and oregano and stir for 1 minute, then add 1/2 cup of milk.  Turn heat to medium and cook for 5-10 minutes, or until carrots are beginning to soften, stirring often.  Add the flour and stir in, then the water, broth, and rest of the milk.  Turn the heat to medium-high and bring to a nice boil, then turn down to medium and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, using your individual serving dishes as a guide, cut circles of the puff pastry that are about 1/8" larger than your dish. 

Taste the vegetable mixture and season with salt and pepper as desired.  Divide the vegetable mixture between your serving dishes (mine filled 4 8-oz souffle dishes).  Using the beaten egg, lightly coat the top rim of the serving dishes.  Place a round of puff pastry over each dish, pressing down the overhang, then use a fork to press the edges to the rim.  The overhang and the pressing insure the pastry won't shrink off the edges during baking. 

Brush more of the egg wash over the top of each pie, then place all dishes on a baking sheet.  Bake at 425F for 15 minutes, or until beautifully brown and crispy.  Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 4.