I almost never cook -- my husband is definitely a much more talented cook than I am and I'm very fortunate that he takes on all of the cooking responsibilities around here. Tom can just go into the kitchen and whip up dinner, while I can only cook if I have a recipe to follow. That said, I do enjoy cooking, especially when it stays in my comfort zone by involving baking -- hence my love for savory tarts. I also put pot pies in this category; if it involves pastry, I can make it.
So recently I decided that I wanted to make chicken pot pies, and I browsed epicurious.com for a recipe. I wanted to try Chicken and Vegetable Pot Pies with Cream Cheese Crust because the recipe was slightly unusual -- instead of the normal mix of vegetables, this one calls for sun-dried tomatoes, bell peppers, green beans, and shiitake mushrooms.
I had considered taking a shortcut by using purchased chicken stock, but I'm so glad I didn't. The homemade stock (made by cooking a chicken with onions, carrots, a leek, thyme, and a bay leaf, and then straining and reducing the stock) is intensely flavorful and really good. The sauce for the chicken pot pie is made my incorporating the homemade stock into a roux, and then adding some milk, a little cream, some soup base (I used Penzey's chicken soup base), and salt and pepper. This sauce is crazy tasty. I wanted to just eat it by the spoonful.
I ended up having to make a few changes in the mix of vegetables -- the green beans at the store looked terrible, and I wanted to drop off some pot pies with a friend who doesn't like mushrooms -- so I went with red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, onions, green onions, sun-dried tomatoes, peas and corn. The crust for the pies is made in the food processor from flour, salt, butter, and cream cheese, and it was very easy to handle and roll out. It also adhered well to the sides of the ramekins (I used some 2-cup capacity ice cream dishes that I recently bought from Williams-Sonoma -- an impulse buy because they look like paper pleated condiment cups and are just so darn cute!), so there was no leakage from the sides during baking.
These pies smelled absolutely heavenly while they were baking. I packed some up straight out of the oven to drop off with friends, and my car smelled amazing all afternoon as a result. These pot pies were really tasty -- very moist chicken, a great mix of vegetables (I especially liked the sun-dried tomatoes), and the lovely chicken sauce. And the crust is fabulous. Tender, browned, flavorful, flaky -- and so delicious when mixed in with the chicken and vegetables.
These pot pies were a little time-consuming, but they were absolutely worth the effort.
Recipe: "Chicken and Vegetable Pot Pies with Cream Cheese Crust," from epicurious.com.
So recently I decided that I wanted to make chicken pot pies, and I browsed epicurious.com for a recipe. I wanted to try Chicken and Vegetable Pot Pies with Cream Cheese Crust because the recipe was slightly unusual -- instead of the normal mix of vegetables, this one calls for sun-dried tomatoes, bell peppers, green beans, and shiitake mushrooms.
I had considered taking a shortcut by using purchased chicken stock, but I'm so glad I didn't. The homemade stock (made by cooking a chicken with onions, carrots, a leek, thyme, and a bay leaf, and then straining and reducing the stock) is intensely flavorful and really good. The sauce for the chicken pot pie is made my incorporating the homemade stock into a roux, and then adding some milk, a little cream, some soup base (I used Penzey's chicken soup base), and salt and pepper. This sauce is crazy tasty. I wanted to just eat it by the spoonful.
I ended up having to make a few changes in the mix of vegetables -- the green beans at the store looked terrible, and I wanted to drop off some pot pies with a friend who doesn't like mushrooms -- so I went with red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, onions, green onions, sun-dried tomatoes, peas and corn. The crust for the pies is made in the food processor from flour, salt, butter, and cream cheese, and it was very easy to handle and roll out. It also adhered well to the sides of the ramekins (I used some 2-cup capacity ice cream dishes that I recently bought from Williams-Sonoma -- an impulse buy because they look like paper pleated condiment cups and are just so darn cute!), so there was no leakage from the sides during baking.
These pot pies were a little time-consuming, but they were absolutely worth the effort.
Recipe: "Chicken and Vegetable Pot Pies with Cream Cheese Crust," from epicurious.com.
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