I am happy to report that, after a temporary setback where stupid blogger told me I had reached my uploaded photo limit (which I didn't even know about grrrrr....) that I think I've figured a way around it. Which has inspired me to do more blog writing, including a dish that I've made a couple of times around the holiday season (a dish I've wanted to make for a long long time): Chicken Pot Pie (followed later by Turkey pot pie after Thanksgiving).
It took me a while to figure out which recipe I wanted to follow to make this, knowing how I like to make everything from scratch. After looking at various recipes, I decided to follow Mark Bittman's recipe, but I'll also include modifications for a slightly easier version afterwards.
Chicken Pot Pie from Mark Bittman's How to Cook everything iPod app
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, 3-4 lbs, trimmed of excess fat
2 onions, quartered
3 bay leaves
10 whole black peppercorns
salt
1 recipe sweet tart crust, chilled
2 tbsp. butter
1 cup pearl onions
2 large-4 small to medium carrots, diced
2 tbsp AP flour
1 tsp dried sage
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup cream
1 cup peas (frozen are fine, don't bother to thaw)
1 egg, beaten
Procedure:
1) Put the chicken and onions in a large pot with just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then immediately reduce the heat to medium-low. Skim any foam that rises to the surface. Add the bay leaves, peppercorns and a generous pinch of salt. Simmer until the chicken and vegetables are nearly tender and the chicken is cooked through, about 45 minutes; the bird is done when an instant-read thermometer inserted in to the thickest part of the thigh reads 155-165 F.
2) Remove the chicken to cool and save the cooking liquid. (This is a good time to make the tart dough if you haven't already done so).
3) Remove the chicken meat from the bones, roughly chop or pull into pieces, and reserve. Return the carcass to the pot (break the pieces up a bit so they're all submerged, bu don't add any more water), and bring the liquid back to a boil. Reduce the heat so the liquid bubbles steadily and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or so. Strain into a wide pot, bring the liquid to a boil, and reduce until you have about 1 1/2 cups, 15 to 30 minutes, depending on how much you started with. (At this point, the chicken and cooking liquid may be stored separately in the refrigerator for up to 2 days). If you're baking the pie now, heat the oven to 375 F and generously grease a 2 qt baking dish.
4) Put 2 tbsp. butter or oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. When the butter is melted or the oil is hot, add the onions and carrots and cook, stirring frequently, until just beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in the flour; continue cooking and stirring until it just turns tan. Add the sage and cook and stir for another minute. (At this point you can refrigerate the vegetable mixture for up to a day, then reheat just before proceeding).
5) Add the chicken-cooking liquid and the cream to the vegetable-flour mixture and turn the heat up to medium. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture begins to bubble and thicken, but don't let it come to a rolling boil. Taste and adjust the seasoning, turn off the heat, and stir in the chicken pieces and the peas. Put the mixture into the prepared baking dish. (At this point, you may cover and refrigerate the filling for up to a day; bring to room temperature before proceeding).
6) Roll out the tart crust large enough to cover the baking dish. Lay it on top of the dish and flute it as for pie crust or just leave it draped over the sides a little. Use a sharp knife to cut 3 to 4 vents in the top. Brush the top with the beaten egg. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until the crust is deeply golden and the filling is bubbling.
Variations:
Faster chicken pot pie
For when you have leftover or pick up an already-cooked bird: Skip Steps 1-3 and start by putting 4 cups of chicken stock in a large pot and bringing it to a boil. Reduce by about half. Mean while, bone and chop the cooked chicken. You should have about 3 cups, but ,if not, simply substitute more vegetables to make up the difference. Proceed with the recipe from Step 4.
Sweet Tart crust
Ingredients:
1 1/4 AP flour, plus a little more for rolling
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
10 tbsp frozen or cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 egg yolk
3 tbsp ice water, plus more if necessary
Procedure:
1) Combine the flour, salt and sugar in a food processor and pulse once or twice. Add the butter all at once; process until the mixture is uniform, about 10 seconds (do not overprocess). Ad the egg yolk and process for another few seconds.
2) Put the mixture in a bowl and add 3 tbsp. ice water; mix with your hands until you can form the dough in to a ball, adding another 1 to 2 tbsp of ice water if necessary (if you overdo it and the mixture becomes sodden, add a little more flour). Form into a ball, wrap in plastic, and freeze for 10 minutes or refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
3) Sprinkle a countertop with flour and put the dough on it; sprinkle the top with a little flour. Use a rolling pin to roll with light pressure from the center out. If the dough is sticky, add a little flour (if it continues to become sticky and it's taking you more than a few minutes to roll out, refrigerate or freeze again). Roll, adding flour and rotating and turning the dough as needed; use the ragged edges of dough to repair any tears, adding a drop of water while you press the patch into place.
Whoo! That was a lot to type out! Makes me wish I had wi-fi internet in this place because then I could just e-mail it to myself. Anyways, I digress....
The first time I made this pie, I followed the recipe almost exactly except I used leeks instead of pearl onions and I had Scott made the first step (chicken cooking) and refrigerated it. It took me a while to actually make the pie as I kept getting intimidated by all the steps. But, once you get everything all together, it actually comes together pretty darn quickly. At the end, it was delicious, but didn't have enough liquid.
The second time I made the pie was with Thanksgiving leftovers. I just made a regular pie crust, used turkey stock I had made from the carcass and all the leftover Thanksgiving turkey meat. I used regular milk instead of cream and kind of guestimated on the liquid amount. It still wasn't quite right, but it was definitely delicious. Both times I made it in the cast iron and just put the crust on top, thus saving the "transfer to a baking dish" step. I think I want to experiment and somehow figure out how to get a crust on the bottom and how to get the liquid to solid ratio just right (maybe individual dishes like my crocks used for French onion soup???). Either way about it, definitely a delicious meal!!
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| Chicken pot pie |
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| The almost identical turkey pot pie (Yes, these are two different photos. And, just because I wondered, that's a cookie sheet in the background, not a dirty wall). |
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| Turkey pot pie |
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