Steak and Vegetable Pie

Being an American and all.. When I hear the word "pie" only one thing comes to mind. Dessert. I do love my desserts and sweets very much, so you can imagine how I was thrown off a little bit when I continued to read on and it said "Steak and Ale Pie, Chicken Pie, Vegetable Pie.." and so on. I thought to my self.. "What kind of Pie do they serve over here? This should be in the dessert section and not with meat in it." I was very much confused. However, the vegetable pie has become one of my most favorite dishes since I have been here.. The combination of pie crust, cheesy vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy, and an extra helping of fresh steamed veggies on the side... Delicious! After experiencing this amazingness, I knew I had to put it into my food blog as a main event.

For this recipe I looked into the book "The Frugal English Paleo/Caveman Cook: Budget Recipes For Gluten Free/ Paleo Dishes suited for British Tastes." From the title alone I thought that this would be a good choice for me being a student having a budget and all. Right in the introduction it states that "Our modern lifestyles obviously do not allow us to hunt of gather our food anymore, so we have to adapt our lifestyle and consume commonly available foods found in our local shops and super markets." I think this really shows that the author Michelle Newbold, has a common sense sarcastic kind of humor which I liked and related to very much. They also very clearly identified the target audience right in the title and in the following sentence stating "This book is also aimed at people who are looking for budget recipes, and don't want to spend too much time preparing complicated British dishes using hard to find ingredients." After that sentence I thought to my self this may be the perfect cookbook for me! So I continued to flip through and search the recipes.. and this is what I found:

225 g (8 oz) plain wholemeal flour
pinch of salt
pinch of paprika
100 g (4 oz) butter
2 - 3 tablespoons cold water
beaten egg to glaze

225 g (8 oz) broccoli
2 celery sticks
2 leeks, trimmed
2 carrots
2 parsnips
1 red pepper, deseeded
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
salt and pepper
1 quantity white sauce (see below).

Sift the flour, salt and paprika into a bowl. Cut the margarine into small pieces and rub into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add enough water to mix to a soft dough. refrigerate.
Break the broccoli into sprigs. Cut the celery into chunks and slice the leeks into rings. Slice the carrots and parsnips. Cut the pepper into strips. Arrange the vegetables in a deep oval pie.
Add the lemon juice, nutmeg and seasoning to the white sauce and pour over the vegetables.
Roll out the pastry to 5 mm (1/4 in) thick, dampen the rim of the pie dish and cover with a strip of pastry cut from the outside of the oval. 
Brush the strip with water and cover the pie with the remaining pastry. Press the edges together, knock up and flute. 

Brush with beaten egg and decorate the pie with any pastry trimmings made into leaves. Glaze the decorations and bake in a moderately hot oven for 40-50 minutes.