Québécois tourtière, vegan style!

What a warm and filling treat on a February night! The flakey pastry and rich spice-infused filling really tasted like my first trip to Quebec city!

Ingredients:

Enough pastry for 2 pies (top and bottom crusts) or 1 deep-dish pie - - - I used the flakey pie crust recipe from the Joy of Vegan Baking sans the sucre.

4 medium sized yellow-fleshed potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes
2 stalks celery, finely diced
2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
One small red onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup cremini or white mushrooms, coarsely chopped
1 can white kidney beans
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup beer or stout
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground savory
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 pkg Yves veggie ground round
Salt to taste

Directions:

Prepare the pastry according to selected recipe and chill for at least 1/2 hour.
Cover potatoes with cold water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low-medium. Simmer for approximately 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain and set aside.
Heat a small stock-pot over medium heat. Add 1tbsp water and add onions and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes and add carrots and celery. Cook 5 minutes more and add mushrooms, beans, stock, beer and spices. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes until most of the cooking liquid has reduced. Remove bay leaf and remove from heat.
After slightly mashing potatoes (leaving lots of chunks), stir the potatoes and ground round into vegetable mixture. Set aside to cool.
Roll out pastry into 4 discs, or two if making a deep-dish pie. Press bottom crust into pan, spoon in filling, cover with remaining pastry. Repeat for second pie. Puncture crust with a fork in a few places to vent the pie. Brush crust with a little soymilk and bake in a 375 F oven for 50 minutes of until the pastry is golden brown. Remove and cool for 10 minutes before serving.