Monday 6 August 2007

A grown up chicken pot pie


I always find it challenging to use all the ingredients in my fridge before they go bad, so whenever I'm planning what to cook, I always try to find recipes that will use as much of the stuff that I currently have and that requires minimal new purchases. Today was no different. The most important thing that I wanted to use was some chicken stock that I spent four and a half hours making on Saturday night. Several options came to mind immediately. I could make a mushroom risotto perhaps, or maybe a chicken noodle soup or maybe chicken pot pie, which I have to admit I really like.

With these options in mind, I started searching on Epicurious. Always a good option when I don't have access to my cookbooks. After surfing for a few minutes, I came across the perfect recipe: Chicken and vegetable pot pies with cream cheese crust. Now for those of you turning up your noses because you think of chicken pot pies as using frozen peas and carrots, this one is different. Instead of peas and carrots, it uses more sophisticated ingredients such as sundried tomatoes and shiitake mushrooms. I definitely wanted to see if this grown-up twist on a childhood favourite would live up to the original. Besides, I had a tub of cream cheese in my fridge that I needed to finish.



Prep for the dish was not all that involved seeing that I had already completed the hard part - the stock. All it required was chopping of some ingredients and using the food processor to whip the dough together. After sauteing the onions, peppers and shiitake mushrooms, I was ready to make the filling. That was also a breeze and soon I was assembling my pot pie and ready to put it in the oven.

The hardest part I find (as is always the case when I'm baking) is waiting for it to finish. I guess I like instant gratification. Thankfully, M came home at this time and chatting with him make the time fly by. Before I knew it, it was done!

So, was it worth it? Absolutely! M and I both loved it and it'll definitely be going into our dinner rotation.