Ratatouille Christmas Tree Pie

Ratatouille in a pie! And it was delicious! They tasted very homemade and comforting. The good thing about ratatouille is that you can use any vegetables that are in season and it actually tastes better the next day. So you can make it ahead of time. I actually used what I had on hand, cauliflower, green peppers and I added some chickpeas.

Maybe you’re not going to serve this for Christmas but I think it can make a good brunch, no special occasion needed.

For this braided Christmas Tree Pie, I was inspired by one of the Daring Bakers Challenge where the participants had to do a Danish Braid. I don’t participate in Daring Bakers (yet!), but I remembered being really impressed by some of the participants work and especially Marika’s braid (from Madcap Cupcake). I had bookmark this to try one day.

Instead of puff pastry though, I just used the same pastry dough from the 3am Curry Pies.

Ingredients (5 large pies)
3 cups cauliflower florets (broken or cut into small pieces)
1 small green pepper (capsicum), diced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 cup boiled chickpeas
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ can tomatoes, finely chopped (or use tomato puree if you prefer)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (or olive oil)
Salt to taste
Soymilk with a pinch of turmeric (optional) for glazing

• Add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a deep fry pan or wok.
• Add onions and garlic. Stir and let fry for a few minutes.
• Add cauliflower. Stir and cook until starting to brown lightly but not mushy.
• Add tomatoes and chickpeas. Stir and mix well.
• Cook uncovered (adding water occasionally as required) until cauliflower is almost tender (but again not mushy).
• Sprinkle the dried thyme in.
• Add salt to taste.
• Lastly stir in the peppers and mix well. Remove immediately from the heat.
• The heat from the sauce will cook the peppers slightly. (They will cook more while being baked and there’s nothing worse than soggy peppers in a pie!)
• Allow to cool completely before filling in.

• Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius.

• Using the pastry dough from here, divide in 5.
• Roll each one out on a floured board and brush with some oil.
• Sprinkle with some dried thyme.
• Fold in 3 lengthwise and again in 3 across the width to make a square. Roll out again into a square approximately 15 x 15 cm (6 x 6 inches).

• Fold 2 opposite sides towards the centre to create a rough mark on the dough.

Fold sides back. Make cuts (about 1cm wide) perpendicular to the mark.

Cut the bottom like in the picture to form the tree trunk.

• Place some filling in the middle on the dough; don’t put too much filling on the stem part.

• Begin closing by folding over the strips and alternating from the top.

• Fold over the bottom to close and form the trunk. (Press on either side to enclose).

• Place on a greased baking tray. Brush with soymilk (I added a pinch of turmeric in the soymilk to obtain a nice golden colour).

• Bake for 30 – 40 minutes until pastry is a nice golden colour.
• Remove and let cool slightly before serving.

People who have made this:
Becks from I am not a rabbit! - Her trees were so cool!
DJ Karma from VegSpinz who made a variation with puff pastry
Vegan4One - Tourtière Tannenbaums
Foodtravelandwine
Sin salir de mi concina
Cooking with Siri
Vie de la Vegan