Fall Vegetable Pot Pie with Red Wine Sauce

By inget

Here’s a good dish to prove the maxim about pairing wines to a dish’s sauce. The main ingredients for this hearty weeknight pot pie—roasted fall vegetables, puff pastry—point to choosing a full-bodied, earthy white, such as a Chardonnay or Viognier. But we’ve replaced the usual cream sauce with a simple reduction of red wine and stock, and as the sauce goes, so goes the pairing.

Use just about any combination of vegetables that you like; fennel, parsnips or rutabagas would all make good additions. The vegetables won’t sway the wine pairing—the herbs de Provence and red wine dominate. Likewise, for the topping, don’t be afraid to experiment. I like puff pastry because I’ve found a reliable brand (Dufour) in the market near my home, but if you want, biscuits or pie crust would work well too.

For a wine pairing, you’ll want something on the earthier side; the caramelized sweetness of the roasted vegetables will make most wines taste fruitier. A red Rhône blend and a Syrah from Chile were both fruit-forward and totally serviceable with the food, but Bordeaux from the Médoc shone brightest. With mineral and tobacco notes up front, the wine opened up with the food, developing a new layer of complexity

Ingredients

• 1 leek, thinly sliced
• 4 carrots, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
• 2 medium-size Yukon gold potatoes, diced
• 1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into tiny florets
• 2 teaspoons herbs de Provence
• 2 cups good quality chicken stock
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 package of defrosted store-bought puff pastry

Details

Preparation time 30mins
Cooking time 50mins

Preparation

Step 1

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F. In a large oven-safe skillet or glass baking pan, toss all the vegetables with enough cooking oil to coat them evenly and season with the herbs de Provence and salt to taste. Place the vegetables in the oven and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. In a medium-size sauce pan, cook the stock and wine over high heat until boiling, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the mixture has been reduced by half. Season with salt.

3. Take the vegetable mix out of the oven. Pour the reduced stock and wine mixture over the vegetables. Cover the vegetables with a single layer of puff pastry and trim the edges to fit the pan. Brush the puff pastry with oil or melted butter and salt. Return the pan to the oven and cook until the puff pastry is browned, around 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve. Serves 4.