April, Come She Will 🐉
Game of Thrones Preparation: Seitan Frey Pies
March 17, 2019
Arya is one of my favorite characters on Game of Thrones. She is a petite spitfire who makes lists and takes care of business, just like me. She also cooks up a mean pie of Walter Frey’s moron sons in Season 6 right before cutting his throat, giving us a small nibble of redemption, finally.
This pie is the motivation of my Seitan Frey Pies, tall, thick pies with “…flaky crusts stuffed to bursting with carrots, onions, turnips, parsnips, mushrooms, and chunks of seasoned [un]pork swimming in a savory brown gravy…” (Read more about Frey pie, really Lord Manderly’s pie in the books, ya fanboy, here.) My special addition, a special fingerling potato lost within the minced seitan pork and diced vegetables… Think of this as the little baby in the King’s Cake, granting the recipient with luck, prosperity and carbohydrate bliss.
Big ups to Baking Mischief who helped this version come together with her version of Michael Symon’s recipe. I appreciate her attention to detail.
Some notes: 1.) As with any labor intensive dough, it’s worth it to make a double batch and freeze for another time. I made two batches of the pie dough, saving one for the real deal in April.
2.) This was a trial. I made the seitan pork for the real deal and did not use in this pie. I had a ton of Field Roast leftover from a brunch that kept staring at me in the fridge and I processed it in the food processor and browned in the pan just like I detail in the recipe.
3.) I forgot to pick up carrots, so this trial would have none of their color contrast unfortunately.
Moron Son’s Finger 🥧
1 finger-looking Fingerling potato
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Optional: blue Fingerling skin (for nail bed effect)
Preheat oven to 375 and prepare a small baking sheet with parchment paper.
Coat Fingerling potato with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast until tender. Set aside as you prepare the rest.
Meat 🥧 (From Homemade Vegan Pantry)
1 cup Water
1/3 cup Oil
2 Tb Sugar
1 Tb Soy sauce
1 tsp Liquid Smoke
2 tsp Onion Powder
2 tsp Salt
2 and 1/4 cups Vital Wheat Gluten
Mix the water, oil, sugar, soy sauce, liquid smoke, onion powder, and 1 tsp of salt in large bowl.
Add 1 and 3/4 cup vital wheat gluten to to the bowl, mixing well. Then add remaining 1/2 cup and work in with your hands.
Heat a deep skillet on the stovetop after coating with oil. Cook the seitan until browned.
Cover with , add remaining salt, cover and simmer for 30-60 minutes until cooked thoroughly.
Once cooked, drain, keeping the stock to be used later, and let cool a bit. Mince pork seitan in a food processor then brown back on the stovetop until slightly crispy. Set aside.
Pie Dough 🥧 (Adapted from A Couple Cooks)
2 and 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
4 teaspoons dried sage
1 cup coconut oil (at room temperature)–I used unrefined because that’s what I had. If you don’t want coconut taste, used refined.
3/4 cup ice water
“Egg” Wash:
1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil
Make the crust: In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, and sage. Mix well so that sage is incorporated well into other dry ingredients.
Measure 1 cup of room temperature coconut oil and then drop blobs of the coconut oil into the flour mixture. (See pictures.)
Use a pastry blender or two forks to cut it into the flour mixture until a coarse meal texture is obtained.
Sprinkle ice water over the flour a couple of tablespoons at a time, mixing gradually with fork until the dough sticks together. Add more water by the tablespoon until the dough comes together with your hands, but isn’t sticky. I didn’t have to add any extra, just so you know.
Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until the filling is ready, or at least 30 minutes.
Section the dough about 2:1 for the bottom dough and top dough. Put top dough back in the refrigerator as you work with the bottom.
Roll out to fit a vegan buttered Spring Form pan, pushing it gently into the pan and trimming some of the overhanging edges. I used a 6″ pan because I wanted a compact tall pie whose slices wouldn’t be compromised. When lining pan, try to leave an inch or so on top to crimp with the top dough. Place pan in the refrigerator.
Roll out a top for your pie, measuring an inch or so beyond the diameter of your pan. Place in the refrigerator with the pan while you prepare the filling.
Vegetable Filling 🥧
1 medium onion diced
8 ounces mushrooms diced
2 large carrots diced
2 large parsnips diced
1 small turnip diced
1 cup water
Salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Add onions to the the pot and cook over medium for 4 to 5 minutes until onions are just starting to turn translucent around the edges.
Add in the rest of the diced vegetables. Add 1 cup water and cover. Simmer covered for 10 minutes. (Start gravy, below) Uncover, stir, and continue to simmer uncovered until water is evaporated and vegetables are just fork tender.
Add ground seitan pork, rosemary and oregano and mix well. Set aside to cool a bit while you finish the gravy and get ready for assembling.
Gravy 🥧 (From This Savory Vegan)
1 tbsp Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base
3 cups water
3 tbsp vegan butter
3 tbsp flour plus more for thickening
1/4 tsp poultry seasoning
pepper to taste
Add bouillon and water to a mixing cup and stir until bouillon is dissolved.
Heat a sauce pan over medium heat. Add butter and flour and whisk until butter is melted and a smooth & bubbly roux begins to form (approx. 2 minutes)
Pour in bouillon/water mix and continue to whisk until it heats through and begins to bubble (approx. 5 minutes).
Gravy should begin to thicken, but if it is not thick enough, add flour (1 tbsp. at a time) until it reaches your desired thickness – whisking constantly.
Once it reaches your desired thickness, turn heat to low and add poultry seasoning and pepper. Whisk one final time and taste to adjust seasoning.
Serve immediately or leave on stove over low heat (whisking regularly) until ready to use.
I became fascinated with the gravy skin… and recorded it for prosperity.
Assembly 🥧
Make sure your pie dish will fit in your oven, arranging racks or taking one out if need be. Preheat your oven to 400°F. Put a rimmed baking sheet inside while it preheats. You will be placing pie pan directly on this sheet so that the heat will help the bottom dough set well and prevent sog. No soggy bottoms here, please!
As your oven is preheating, take out the dough top from the refrigerator to allow it come to room temperature.
Of course, also take out dough in pan. Pour seitan and vegaetable filling over the top, making a slight mound in the center. Carefully place dough over the top of your pie so that it is even with the bottom crust, crimping the edges to seal. I compensated for the shortness of some areas of my bottom with strips from the top overhang. Make sure all of the crust is inside of the springform pan so it doesn’t break when you release the pan.
Apply the vegan egg wash to the top of the pie and cut a few slashes in the top of the pie for steam to escape. Omg, it is ready to go!
Place your pie on the preheated tray in the oven and bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until the crust is a nice golden brown. Cover loosely with foil if it is browning too quickly.
Allow pie to cool in the pan (do not open up the springform pan) for at least 25 minutes before releasing and serving.
A lovely bake! As they say on The Great British Bake-off. 🙂
Coconut oil does the trick for a sturdy, buttery crust.
And look at that non-soggy bottom.
I am so please with the results!
Idiot me forgot to add the finger into the filling before baking… but that worked out well for the pictures… you know, because otherwise I may just slice through it during the finger search.
Ew. Potato finger.
So excited with my undertaking that I made this video that abruptly ends, like the gravy one.
Next trial: Sansa’s favorite: Lemon Cakes!