Date Cooked: September 26, 2009
Page: 352
Rating: A-
So we all know how the Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuit Topping turned out but what about the rest of the dish. Well creating this pot pie was very similar to my previous attempt with only mild modifications and deviations from that event.
It really is a simple process to create a delicious chicken pot pie (which I have to admit is a dish I am really beginning to enjoy). Same as before, chicken breasts were poached in stock and both the chicken and stock were set aside. This time though both of my chicken breasts were of similar size so they both cooked nice and juicy around the same time. Next in this version, the bacon was cooked until crispy and then the rendered fat was used to sauté the vegetables (carrots, onions and celery). While the vegetables cooked I shredded the chicken (while my youngest kept trying to steal pieces of it). Once the carrots, onions and celery was done I added it to the bowl of chicken along with the bacon.
In the now empty dutch oven, I whisked together some butter and flour before adding the reserved poaching stock, milk and thyme. I simmered this until it thickened, and this time I let it really thicken, before seasoning it with salt and pepper and some sherry. This was mixed with the chicken, vegetables and bacon along with a can of corn… I really, truly thought I had frozen corn but I didn’t so I had to use canned corn. I don’t know about the rest of you but canned vegetables are low on my list of preferred food items. This mixture was transferred to a baking dish and topped with the Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuit Topping. Into the oven it went for longer than the book suggested. The book suggested 30 minutes but I needed almost 40 minutes for it to be hot and bubbly.
Rating: A-. I love a good chicken pot pie and this was no exception. This time around I felt a lot more confident putting it together, and other than the biscuit topping, it turned out great. Of course this time around my oldest didn’t like it very much, but his preference in food these days is more about mood than taste. I think I may have ended up eating half of this myself. I will absolutely cook more pot pies not simply because there are two more variations left in the book but because I want to try individual sized ones next!
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I agree with you about canned vegetables, with one exception: tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of glorious months every summer when the produce bins are full of locally grown heirlooms, fresh and juicy and tasting of vitamins and sunlight. Those are some of my favorite months of the year.
But the rest of the year, all you can get are the imported hothouse varieties, grown far to the south and trucked up for hundreds or thousands of miles. They're pretty, brightly colored, but they're hard and tasteless.
During those months, canned tomatoes make a much-better-than-adequate substitute, and I'm generally happy to use them. There's a good reason why: The tomatoes in the bins are bred for how they look; they need to survive the shipping process with color and shape intact, so they look enticing at the store. Actual enjoyment of the tomato is secondary. In other words, they are grown to be sold, not to be eaten. Canned tomatoes, by contrast, have no such restriction. You can't see them inside the can, so it doesn't matter what they look like. They can be grown with attention to flavor and texture. And for the most part, canned tomatoes taste pretty good, and work well in any application where you don't need a whole one, or a fresh diced one (like salsa).
Bottom line is, I'm happy to make bolognese in the dead of winter, because the canned tomatoes are going to be pretty decent. Just avoid the ones with added flavors and spices and junk; stick to quality American producers (like Muir Glen) or Italian imports, and you're golden.
Other canned vegetables, given the choice of take them or leave them, I will leave them almost every time.
I'll agree with you on that. So do the editors of Cook's Illustrated. They actually say that outside of the peak season for local tomatoes canned are a better choice.
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