Black Eyed Pea Sweet Potato Cornbread Pot Pie

Overhead shot of Black Eyed Peas and Cornbread Casserole.

Black Eyed Pea Sweet Potato Cornbread Pot Pie

[VIDEO below] Southern comfort food at its best, this pot pie is packed with caramelized onions, sweet potatoes, black eye peas, chard, bell pepper, and herbs, topped with a sweet cornbread crust. Perfect for a cold winter's night.

*Note the type of cornmeal and diameter of pot used can make a difference in recipe outcome, but still with delicious results. The pot pie in the pictures are made in an 8" Dutch oven using Bob's Red Mill ingredients, while the video pot pie is made in a 12" Dutch oven with Gold brand flour and PAN cornflour - which results in a stiffer batter (see below). This recipe is vegetarian and easily dairy free.

Course Dinner, Holiday

Cuisine American

Diet Vegetarian

Keyword Black Eyed Peas Corn Bread, Pot Pie, Sweet potato Pot Pie

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 1 35

Total Time 2

Servings -7 Generous Servings

Calories 508kcal

Author Traci York

Ingredients

For the Filling:

2 Tbs Coconut or Olive Oil unrefined virgin
4 C (310g) Purple Onions sliced into 1/2 moons (about 3 large onions)
3/4 tsp Sea Salt divided
1 1/2 C (180g) Red Bell Pepper seeded and medium dice (about 1 large pepper)
1/4 C (40g) All Purpose Flour
5 C (1.1kg) Vegetable Broth
2 Tbs Tomato Paste
4 Cloves Garlic minced
1/2 C (85g) Dried Black Eyed Peas rinsed and sorted
2 Springs of Herbs Each: Thyme, Sage, Rosemary tied together with cooking twine
2 Tbs Dijon Mustard
4 C (120g) Swiss or Rainbow Chard ribboned, chopped and packed for measure
3 C (315g) Sweet Potato peeled and diced into 1/2" cubes (about 1 medium or 1 lb)
1 1/2 tsp Tabasco
10 grinds of pepper

For the Cornbread Crust:

1 C (155g) All Purpose Flour
1 C (115g) Yellow Cornmeal medium grind, I like Bob's Red Mill
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Sea Salt
2 Tbs Granulated Sugar or honey
1 C (250g) Milk plant or dairy
1 Egg lightly whisked
3 Tbs Butter melted and slightly cooled, sub plant butter if dairy free
1 1/2 Tbs Fresh Sage chopped

Instructions

For the Filling:

In a 3 or 4 quart dutch oven (I typically use 3 qt, 8" wide DO but have a bit of spill over while baking), add the coconut oil and heat until shimmering. Add the onions and 1/4 tsp salt. Caramelize the onions on medium low for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Use this cook time to prep the remaining veggies.
Add the bell pepper and saute for 2-3 minutes just to soften. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and pepper and stir to coat. Stir in the broth, tomato paste, garlic, dry black eyed peas and herb sprigs. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes.
Fish out the herb sprigs and discard. Add the potatoes and mustard, stir and cook for 15 minutes or until just fork tender. While the potatoes are cooking preheat the oven to 425F and prepare the cornbread crust.
To the filling, add the chard and Tobasco. Stir in and cook until just wilted, about 3-4 minutes. Remove filling from heat. Taste and adjust seasoning and/or heat.

For the Cornbread Crust:

In a mixing bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together: flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar (be sure to cut the salt by half if using salted vegan butter). To the dry ingredients add the milk, whisked egg and melted butter. Stir until all ingredients are just incorporated.

To Assemble and Bake:

Using a large #20 cookie scoop or 3 Tbs, drop scoop-fulls of cornbread on top of the filling. Fill in the gaps, with smaller scoops as needed until all the cornbread mixture is used up. There will be some gaps on top of the pot pie. This is okay, as those gaps will fill in as the pot pie bakes. Sprinkle top with chopped sage.
Set the pot pie on a parchment or silpat lined sheet pan (to catch any spill over) and bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until top is set and slightly golden.

Video

Notes

Freezes well in individual portion sized containers. Thaw in fridge overnight, then bake at 350F for about 15 minutes to rewarm.

Adapted from Vegetarian Times.

Nutrition