Delicious Chicken Potpie- March 21, 2010

wow.

seriously.  wow.

This week, we hit the jackpot and flipped to Keller's recipe for chicken potpie (p. 24).  How can you say no to all of these delicious ingredients?

sweet carrots	red new potatoes
crisp celery	pearl onions

We tried our hand at a homemade pie crust...a first for both of us.  It was surprisingly easy, especially considering all we used was a bowl, our hands (okay, Hunter was the one who really got his hands dirty), and an empty wine bottle (one of these days, I'm going to buy a rolling pin).

What made this pot pie really flavorful and different from pot pies I've enjoyed in the past is that this one was held together by a bechemel sauce, that is, a creamy sauce made from butter, flour, and milk, rather than a stock-based gravy.


The finished product came out perfectly browned with a fluffy, buttery crust and a creamy and slightly peppery, hearty filling.  It really was incredible.

To round out our meal, we flipped to p. 150 for iceberg lettuce slices with blue cheese dressing, oven-roasted tomatoes, bacon, and brioche croutons.

oven roasted tomatoes

rendered smoked bacon

The fresh, crisp, greens of the lettuce gave a nice light and refreshing contrast to the earthiness of the roasted tomatoes, smokey bacon, and crunchy homemade croutons.  The recipe for the oven roasted tomatoes instructed us to leave them in the oven for 5-6 hours, but I probably should have taken them out around 4 hours.  They were a little burnt, but still really flavorful.  Mostly tart with a bit of sweetness.

mmm....doesn't that just make your mouth water?

Yuck or Yum:
- Chicken Pot Pie (p 24): d- "sooooo yummy!  how many days of leftovers can I stretch this out to?" h- "pleasantly surprised at the creaminess of the bechemel filling.  I could have used more of the bechemel, but on the whole, it was really filling."
- Iceberg Lettuce Slices (p 150): d- "with bacon and blue cheese, you really can't go wrong!" h- "really, really good. maybe next time we'll make the blue cheese dressing from scratch and add lots of big hunks of blue cheese.  and thicker chunks of bacon!"