Moosewood Cossack Pie

This is my updated rendition of an old favorite from the first Moosewood Cookbook, initially published in 1977 and repackaged in a "lighter" second edition circa 2000. Mollie Katzen's original calls for butter, eggs, cottage cheese, sour cream, and yogurt, but I've addressed that issue (without resorting to packaged dairy analogues) with the help of our trusty friends tofu and nutritional yeast. I've also increased the seasonings and added green bell pepper because it seemed like - and was - a good idea. Please note that I've omitted the caraway seeds in the prototype because they are one of the few flavors I really don't like, but if you do just add 1 tsp. of the little buggers to the sauté. This went over extremely well at our house, and by using store-bought pie crust I pulled the whole business together in less than two hours. (NB that since everything is doubled, this recipe makes two generously filled pies offering all the old-school earthy crunchy vibe of the original, with the added attraction of being 100% vegan!)

Moosewood Cossack Pie
Ingredients
~ Two 9" single pie crusts (homemade or store-bought, your call)
~ 3 cups sliced mushrooms
~ 2 tbsp. Earth Balance or other vegan margarine
~ 1 large onion, diced
~ 2 large carrots, diced
~ 1 green bell pepper, diced
~ 4 cloves garlic, minced
~ 1 tbsp. dill weed
~ 1 tsp. each: salt, basil, paprika, smoked paprika
~ A few grinds of black pepper
~ 2 cups chopped green cabbage
~ 2 cups chopped broccoli
~ 1/4 cup white wine
~ 1/4 cup flour
~ 14 oz. firm tofu, drained and crumbled
~ 12 oz. firm silken tofu, crumbled
~ 1 cup nutritional yeast
~ 1 tbsp. cornstarch
~ 1 tsp. each: black salt, onion powder
~ 1/2 tsp. white pepper
~ Dash nutmeg
~ 1/4 cup plain, unsweetened soy milk
~ 3 large scallions, chopped
~ Juice of one lemon
~ 1 tsp. paprika
~ 2 teaspoons wheat germ

Directions
~ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
~ Coat a large skillet with cooking spray and sauté the mushrooms over medium-high heat until fragrant and slightly browned. Sprinkle with salt and transfer to a dish.
~ In the same skillet, melt the margarine and cook the onion over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until soft and translucent.
~ Add the carrot, bell pepper, garlic, and seasonings. Continue cooking for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
~ Add the cabbage and broccoli and cook five minutes more. Pour in the wine, mix thoroughly, and stir in the flour. Cook another minute or so and remove from heat.
~ In a blender or food processor, combine all the ingredients from tofu through lemon juice and process until smooth.
~ Combine all but one cup of the tofu mixture with vegetables and divide equally between two single pie crusts.
~ Top the pies with the remaining tofu mixture, smoothing with a spatula. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp. paprika and 1 tsp. of wheat germ per pie, and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until set. Allow the pies to stand for about 10 minutes before slicing. This is equally good served hot, at room temperature, or as cold leftovers straight of the refrigerator.