Recipe: Chickpea Potpie with Cornbread Crust

Yesterday, my brother happened to be over around dinnertime and I happened to have just made these and so I happened to offer him an ENTIRE RAMEKIN (!!!) all to himself.

And he said no. 



I am going to choose to believe that his decisions had nothing to do with the fact that these potpies had chickpeas instead of chicken.  And everything to do with the fact that my mother traumatized us by feeding us frozen chicken potpies when we were little.

(I understand, Daniel.  The thought of eating 3,000 calories and 500,000 mg of sodium in one sitting scares me too.)



For all the nutritional devastation that those potpies left in their wake, however.  They were, in fact, delicious.

The odds that my mother could have come up with a just-as-good-tasting-and-equally-easy homemade version?  Slim to none.

That's where these chickpea potpies come in.



The most intimidating part of making your own potpie from scratch is, arguably, the pastry crust.  Your butter needs to be cold, you need to know how to use a pastry cutter, and then you need to chill it and roll it out...and if you're me, nothing ever works out quite the way it's supposed to and you end up eating dinner at 10pm.  Which is okay (albeit non-ideal) for a 24-year-old single lady, but not so much for a family of five.  I get it.

What if I told you that you don't need a pastry crust.  That maybe, just maybe...a cornbread crust is the way to go?

I know I'm really pushing the envelope here, but hear me out.  Not only is it healthier, but it tastes delicious (sightly sweet, mostly savory.  Heavenly.) and you can whip it up in exactly five minutes flat. 

Win.

As for the filling...I've made a few potpies in my life and it is harder than you'd think to get the consistency of their innards right.  There's a fine line between so-loose-you-could-drink-it-with-a-straw and so-thick-you-might-use-it-to-superglue-your-Halloween-costume-together.  But as soon as I poured the veggie broth into the flour-covered pan, I knew that all would be right in the world.  At least as far as dinner was concerned.

And sometimes.  That's all the comfort you really need.



Do you guys have a favorite comfort food recipe?  Or a favorite way to make your favorite comfort food easier to make and/or healthier?  If so, go on over to kelly-confidential.com and share it or vote on the comfort food recipes that are already there!  For every selection or entry, Electrolux will donate $1 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund as part of its $1 million commitment to the cause.  Plus, visitors will be entered to win an Electrolux Induction Cooktop, which makes cooking your favorite comfort foods fast and easy.

And feel free to enter my GIVEAWAY!!!



Chickpea Potpie with Cornbread Crust
Serves 4-5, adapted from Big Bowl of Love 


Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped sweet potatoes
• 1/2 cup chopped carrots
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup AP flour
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups cooked chickpeas
• 1/2 cup frozen baby peas
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• cracked pepper
• dash of Tabasco sauce
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 3/4 cup AP flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup almond milk or lowfat milk
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large egg yolk, slightly beaten

Instructions

1. Boil the potatoes and carrots until tender but not soft and set aside.
2. Spray a 2-quart casserole with cooking spray (or ramekins!)
3. For the filling, heat a large saucepan until hot.  Add the oil and onions.  Saute onions until they are soft, about 5 minutes.  Sprinkle in the 1/4 cup flour and mix.  Slowly pour in the vegetable stock whisking well with a wire whisk. Still using the whisk, cook the mixture over medium heat until thickened and bubbly, about 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the chickpeas, peas, cooked potatoes and carrots, salt, pepper to taste, and Tabasco.  Cook on medium heat until the mixture is heated through, about 2 to 3 minutes.  turn into the prepared casserole dish, spreading evenly or divide evenly among ramekins.
4. Preheat the oven to 400.
5. For the crust, in a bowl combine the cornmeal, 3/4 cup flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In a small bowl, combine the milk, oil and egg yolk.  Add to the dry ingredients and mix until uniform but a bit lumpy.  Spoon the batter evenly over the filling.
6. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 22 to 25 minutes for the casserole and 10 to 12 minutes for the ramekins.

For more comfort food recipes, check out these:
Macaroni and Goat Cheese with Roasted Red Peppers
Thai Sweet Potato and Winter Squash Pot Pie
Smashed Sweet Potatoes and Butternut Squash with Five-Spice Marshmallows
Beef and Beer Chili
Cannellini al Gratin

I am submitting this to Weekend Herb Blogging, which is being hosted this week by Lynne of Cafe Lynnylu.