Seconds Please

Thanks to Daniel Wallace and his blog “The Incompetent Writer” running alongside my desire to return to the UK or Ireland for grad school, I’ve been craving shepherd’s pie. He recently posted some cooking books, one of which grabbed my eye and I promptly went out and purchased. Tonight was the first recipe test, and by popular demand it was a golden standard – Chicken Pot Pie.

I haven’t made crust from scratch before, and I think when trying a recipe from a book it’s owed to test it as outlined at least the first time. I’m not going to outline the entire recipe again here, but I can highly recommend checking it out. I’d recommend getting the book but this is the first and only recipe from it that I have tried so far… There were only a few things I found to be not totally accurate in results – for example, at one point the recipe states you should have broth left over equaling at least 2 1/2 cups, but I had just under 2 cups left over. That being said, it was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted and the errors aren’t really errors that make any true difference in the final product.

Consider this post really just about tooting my own horn that I made my first ever chicken pot pie from scratch as I am not quite adept at food blogs and recipe reviews. That said, this recipe was phenomenal and easy to follow!

Successful crust from scratch!!

Brussel sprouts, winter squash, onions, potatoes, thyme, and I opted to use both chicken breast and thighs for a flavor boost!

The dough, after being refrigerated for a couple hours, is shaped to a little larger than the dish and then tucked and folded down into the dish before being brushed with an egg wash.

After an oven mishap (Viking Professional kitchen appliances look great but are lousy under performers)… the crust finally started baking and browning. Timing got thrown off a bit due to the oven issues, so a tiny bit of the crust wasn’t as cooked as it should have been, but the flavor was perfect!

All in all, as much as I could rave about this recipe, it’s apparent that no one liked it! 😉

Just kidding. If all the recipes in this book are as delicious as the first we tried, I’m going to need a larger belt. I’m either making this again tomorrow as requested, or this week we will move on to something new and different! Stay tuned!