Vegan Brunswick Stew Cobbler (A Rock Idol Flashback And Portlandia Obsession)

Last night I was in the mood for pastry and barbecue. No, I'm not pregnant. After throwing open five cookbooks and covering every inch of my kitchen counters with marked recipe pages and variations on a theme of a "stew" and of a "cobbler"--I came up with this recipe for a very tasty best of the best for a bake-until-bubbly sort of casserole dish. Sometimes it's the journey. My cooking mojo is doing combat with this post-Christmas (I finally relented and took down my winter wonderland Christmas lights, but not without some angst over the lack of snow!)--and it's been a challenge lately to come up with crafty and clever meal ideas. It's rare for me to find inspiration in one cookbook anyhow. I need a collision of at least a half dozen books sometimes to figure out what might make for a singular yummy meal.   

You probably already have everything you need to make this for dinner tonight. Just look in the freezer.

These are a vegan gal's best friend: Gardein Chicken patties. They are a must in this house. And I just discovered them at Target which shortens my grocery store drive to getting my hands on them by about two miles. Win-win!

Make pastry and top casserole of veggies with it and bake. Couldn't be easier. I love easy.

So I was reading the paper this morning and learned (to my shock and disbelief) that Pat Benatar turns 59 today. Say what?! I'll share a bit of history about one of my favorite rock idols. When I was in high school (year unknown), I just LOVED her. MTV had knocked American Bandstand out of contention with it's all-music-video-all-the-time format. First there was only Bandstand, then Soul Train later--and Saturdays were sacred from then on out. I remember the first time I saw the video, Hit Me with Your Best Shot and how blown away I was with this bad a** song and the bad a** artist singing. Short hair and all! Whoa. I immediately craved two things. A short haircut AND black eye liner. My mom went along for the short hair, the black eye liner would have to be something I eased into later. There are photos, but those will remain in the giant plastic storage box in the basement until I become famous. Meantime, Pat Benetar and all her sassy, brassy musicology from Love Is A Battlefield, We Belong and Heartbreaker all lead me and my girlfriends on this "I Am Woman Hear Me Roar" attitude shift. It was powerful. Our generation's next iteration of finding ourselves was being defined through these songs and eventually the songs of other strong female types along the way (Ann and Nancy Wilson, Blondie, the Go-Go's). But for me it all started with Pat Benatar. Happy Birthday! 

On a more current cultural bent--Satruday night Dr. Thyme and I immersed ourselves in a little Portlandia. Prior knowledge of said show was quite limited. But I had read a review of it and thought it worth a moment of our TV time. That moment turned our Saturday night into a full tilt evening of all things Portlandia. It is officially one of my favorite shows. Period. I laughed so hard, I nearly cried. Literally. Lorne Michaels (another influence from my youth for whom I have the deepest respect)--has his hand in the production. I believe my affection for this show harkens back to my over-the-top obsession with Saturday Night Live. I never missed a show. Ever. Portlandia's quirky, over-the-top-crazy-silliness is all an eighties girl could ever want. (Check out the "Put A Bird on It" segment--for the crafty-crazed, nothing will make you more humble about our insane ways than this skit. I promise. Still laughing.) Bonus for me: Kyle Machlachlan guest stars (I won't even start on Twin Peaks) and Steve Buscemi. This is how bad TV habits begin. 

Vegan Brunswick Stew Cobbler

*Adapted from about five different recipes

For pastry:

3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar
5 tablespoons vegetable spread (cold)
1 1/2 teaspoons Ener-G Egg Replacer
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons ice water

Pulse all ingredients except ice water together in a food processor until the veggie spread and flour form little pea sized piece. About five or six pulses should do it. Slowly drizzle the ice cold water over the mixture and pulse one or two more times to just incorporate the water. The mixture will be quite crumbly. Lay a piece of plastic wrap on the counter and dump the pastry onto this. Press the pastry together and form into a flat oval. Wrap and place in fridge for about 30 minutes to chill.

For the filling:

1 large red onion chopped into 1/2" chunks
2 celery stalks chopped
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 green pepper chopped
1-2 tablespoons paprika (depending on how much you like--I like a lot for this dish)
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 tablespoon cumin
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen lima beans
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 can diced tomatoes
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons cooking sherry
1 teaspoon vegan worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon hot sauce
2 tablespoons molasses or brown sugar
4 tablespoons white vinegar
2 Gardein Chicken patties (cooked and cut into small pieces and set aside)

Preheat oven to 425. Set out a medium-sized casserole dish for baking--spray with non-stick cooking spray. Heat about 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat in a large saute pan. Add chopped veggies and bay leaf and saute until onions begin to soften and turn brown around the edges--about ten minutes. Next, add the cooking sherry to this to deglaze the pan a bit. Then add the seasonings, canned tomatoes, and all remaining ingredients including the Gardein. Allow mixture to simmer for about twenty minutes so the flavors meld together stirring every so often. Be sure to taste this. I had to adjust the sugar and vinegar a bit after my tomatoes were added. Just taste it to be sure you have that BBQ flavor going on. Pour ingredients into casserole dish. Take pastry dough from fridge and place between two pieces of plastic wrap and roll to about 1/4" thickness. Carefully cut the dough into strips about 1" wide and place across the casserole in a lattice pattern. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the pastry begins turning gold around the edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool ten minutes before serving. Enjoy!