Sunday, October 24, 2010

Seasonal Sunday

I am switching over from 'How does your garden grow?' to Seasonal Sunday. This more of a catch all for what's happening in the season. I love to cook and be in the kitchen so it will be lots of recipes and foods of the season. I also like decorating for the seasons so if I find something crafty or just so darn cute it just needs to be mentioned...well, you will find it here.

To kick off my Seasonal Sunday I have a yummy comfort food recipe for you. I love the two lovely ladies over at Our Best Bites and will be sharing plenty of their recipes. Today it's their awesome Chicken Pot Pie. It's real easy if you skip making your own pie crusts. Let me know your fave store bought pie crust as I have yet to buy a store bought one. If it requires a pie crust I feel the need to make it. Yeh, what's with me???

Chicken Pot Pie (tweaked from Our Best Bites)

Go get it:

1 lb. cooked, cubed chicken
1 12 to 16 oz. bag frozen mixed vegetables
1 medium onion, minced
2 cans cream of chicken soup
5 medium red potatoes, diced
butter
salt and pepper to taste
2 pie crusts (my fave recipe from Christopher Kimball below)

Go make it

Have your pie crust made a few hours before you start this recipe. I advise you to start your crusts and then bake your chicken after your pie crusts are being chilled. You can skip this step by purchasing premade pie crusts and a cooked deli chicken from the store.


Chicken Pot Pie

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until fork tender.
3. Saute onion in butter until translucent.
4. In a medium size bowl mix together frozen veggies and cream of chicken soup. Stir in cubed chicken and onion. Add salt and pepper to your liking. I omit salt due to the high salt content in condensed soup.
5. Roll out pie crust discs and place the larger of the two in the bottom of your pie plate.
6. Fill crust with chicken/vegetable mixture. Place the other pie crust on top and crimp shut. Slice vent holes in top.
7. Bake for 45 minutes or until crust is golden in color.



Foolproof Food Processor Pie Crust (from The Dessert Bible by Christopher Kimball


Go Get it:

10 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
10 tablespoons cold shortening
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
8 to 10 tablespoons water (I used a full 10)

Go make it:

1. Cut butter into small cubes. Freeze for 15 minutes. Mix flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor. Place spoonfuls of shortening along with butter cubes. Pulse until dough appears slightly yellow and pebbly in texture. Check dough after every couple of pulses. Put mixture into a medium size bowl.

2. Sprinkle 5 tablespoons of water over the mixture (do not do this in your food processor). With a spatula fold mixture over and press down on broad end of spatula. Do this until dough stick together adding up to 5 more tablespoons. I do this using my KitchenAid stand mixer instead of by hand. Dough should be very wet and sticky. Better to have too much water than too little. Shape dough into a ball. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into two smaller sections. One should be larger than the other (the bottom crust is larger). Flatten into discs and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to one hour before rolling.


I have nice pictures to go along with these recipes, but I don't know why Blogger won't allow me to show them to you. Boo! I'll try again tomorrow.

No comments: