These little individual pies present beautifully but you can always assemble this in one large casserole dish and serve it in the middle of the table, if you prefer.
Ingredients
Serves: 4
Time: 45 minutes
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- 1 small head of cauliflower (about 600g), broken into small florets
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- 1 head of broccoli (about 200g), broken into small florets and roughly chopped
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- 80 ml (1/3 cup) extra-virgin olive or avocado oil, plus extra for drizzling
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- 1 onion, finely diced
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- 2 carrots, finely diced
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- 1 celery stalk, finely diced
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- 4 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
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- 500g Swiss brown mushrooms, roughly chopped
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- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
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- 250ml (1 cup) vegetable stock or chicken or beef bone broth (see Health Hack below)
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- 3 tablespoon nutritional yeast
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- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
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- 1 tablespoon roughly chopped thyme leaves
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- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil, add the cauliflower and boil for 5–6 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.
Place the broccoli in a food processor and pulse into tiny rice-like pieces (this usually takes six to eight pulses). Set aside.
Warm two tablespoons of your chosen oil in a large frying pan over medium heat, add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and cook, stirring, for 4–5 minutes or until golden and caramelised. Add the broccoli ‘rice’ and saute for a further 4–5 minutes, until softened, then add the mushroom in batches, making sure not to add it all at once and giving each batch a chance to soften down a little before adding the next. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a further two minutes, then increase the heat to high, add the vegetable stock or bone broth and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5–10 minutes, or until the liquid has reduced by roughly half. Remove from the heat.
Place the cauliflower in a food processor or high-powered blender along with the remaining two tablespoons of oil and the nutritional yeast, mustard and thyme leaves. Blend to a smooth mash, then season to taste with salt and pepper.
Divide the vegetable mixture among four large ramekins and top each with the cauliflower mash. Drizzle a little oil over the top and bake for 20 minutes or until lightly golden. Serve.
Good to know: I have used cauliflower to top this pie, but feel free to use pumpkin instead. The recipe stays the same – just boil your chosen vegetable for long enough that it will blend well in the food processor.
Health hack: If you’re vegetarian or vegan you should simply use a vegetable stock here. But if you’re not, I love the flavour that a good chicken or beef bone broth brings to this dish – plus all the nutritional benefits of collagen and gelatine for gut health and improved skin, hair and nails, of course.
The Fast Low-Carb Kickstart Plan by Luke Hines, Published by Plum, RRP $26.99, Photography by Mark Roper
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