Mushroom — Leek Pie -- The Long Season’s First Slow Kitchen Sunday

I drove to Grinnell Saturday. Roger was in the garden — the garden that is his whole world now, the 82-year-old man who tends six tomato plants and twelve sunflowers with the same care he once gave four hundred acres. He's slower but he's still Roger. He still watches the crop reports. He still calls Jack on Wednesdays.

Thursday was tater tot hotdish, because Thursday is always tater tot hotdish and the schedule doesn't change for anything — not pandemics, not loss, not the passage of years. The tater tots go in at 375 and come out golden and the family eats them and the eating is the Thursday and the Thursday is the structure and the structure holds. But I also made caramel apples earlier this week, because the kitchen doesn't only look backward. The kitchen grows.

The trees along the highway are turning — maples red, oaks gold, the Bradford pears doing their useless purple thing. Iowa falls are short and violent and beautiful. The kitchen shifts to slow mode: crockpots, Dutch ovens, the oven at 375 from September through April. The fall cooking is the cooking of a woman settling in for the long season.

When I got home from Grinnell and the maples were still burning red outside the window, I knew what the kitchen needed — not something quick, not something loud, but something that asked me to stand at the stove and pay attention. The Mushroom & Leek Pie felt exactly right: earthy and slow, a recipe that respects the ritual the way Roger respects those six tomato plants, the way Thursday respects the tater tots. You build it in layers and you let it do its work, and when it comes out of the oven it smells like the whole reason you came inside in the first place.

Mushroom & Leek Pie

Prep Time: 25 minutes | Cook Time: 50 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 medium leeks, white and light green parts only, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 pounds cremini mushrooms, thickly sliced
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried)
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 package refrigerated double pie crust (or homemade, enough for top and bottom)
• 1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven. Heat oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a 9-inch pie dish and set aside.
2. Soften the leeks. In a large skillet or Dutch oven, melt butter with olive oil over medium heat. Add the sliced leeks and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.
3. Cook the mushrooms. Add the sliced mushrooms to the pan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms release their liquid and the pan is mostly dry, about 10–12 minutes.
4. Deglaze with wine. Pour in the white wine and stir, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Let simmer until the wine is mostly absorbed, about 3 minutes.
5. Build the sauce. Sprinkle the flour over the mushroom mixture and stir well to coat. Slowly pour in the vegetable broth while stirring, then add the heavy cream, thyme, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper. Simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the filling thickens to a creamy, spoonable consistency, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
6. Line the pie dish. Press one pie crust into the prepared dish, pressing gently into the sides and leaving an overhang. Spoon the mushroom and leek filling evenly into the crust.
7. Top and seal. Lay the second crust over the filling. Trim excess dough to about 3/4 inch overhang, fold the edges under, and crimp to seal. Cut 4–5 small slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape. Brush the top evenly with the beaten egg.
8. Bake. Bake at 400°F for 30–35 minutes, until the crust is deep golden brown. If the edges brown too quickly, tent them loosely with foil. Let the pie rest 10 minutes before slicing.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 420 | Protein: 9g | Fat: 24g | Carbs: 42g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 480mg