Chicken Pot Pie

I love chicken pot pie. I grew up eating frozen chicken pot pie--we only got to have it when my parents went out for the evening. My brothers, sister and I thought it  was a real treat. The real treat is the chicken pot pie you make at home--it tastes the best.

If you use a rotisserie or leftover chicken and a prepared, purchased pie crust, you can save a lot of time and energy. Or, make them the day ahead.

Chicken Pot Pie

serves 6 to 8

2 Tablespoons olive oil (or butter), plus 1 T butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium sweet onion, diced

3 cups diced celery

3 cups chopped carrots

1 cup diced potatoes

1 cup peas

1 lb. mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

4-6 cups chicken stock

1 bay leaf

4 cups cooked chicken, cut or shredded into bite-sized pieces

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons corn starch, if needed

1 teaspoon dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

2 prepared pie crusts

1 egg plus 1 Tablespoon milk

Chop all vegetables. I think it's a good idea to use any vegetables you might have as leftovers too.

Saute the vegetables, minus the peas, in 2 tablespoons olive oil or butter until softened but not browned, about 10 minutes. Remove from pot and set aside. Then saute the mushrooms in 1 tablespoon butter until lightly browned. Return vegetables to the pot and add 1/4 cup flour and stir until well-combined, about 1 minute over medium heat. 

Add chicken broth, stirring constantly, and bring to simmer. Add bay leaf, dried thyme and season with salt and pepper.

Add cooked chicken, peas and cream, return pot to simmer. Adjust thickness of broth if necessary--in a cup, mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water--add a little at a time to pot, while stirring, to thicken gravy. Cook for a few minutes more to cook the cornstarch. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Next, the pie crust. My friend Laura gave me a recipe for pie crust years and years ago and I'm still using it. I make it in the food processor so it's easy. Put 3 cups all-purpose flour into the processor bowl with 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 1/3 cups shortening. Pulse, sparingly, until shortening is cut into the flour--it only takes a few short pulses. Transfer dough into another bowl and add 1 egg, 5 tablespoons of ice-cold water and 1 tablespoon vinegar. Mix gently until combined. Divide into three balls and refrigerate.

Using prepared or homemade pie crust, roll out dough between two pieces of waxed or parchment paper to about 1/4 inch. I found an ochawan (a rice bowl) that was about the right size for the ramekins--with a little bit of crust draping over the edge.

Cut pie crust to size of ramekins plus about 1-inch. Make 1 pie crust for each ramekin.

Fill ramekins. Moisten edge of ramekins and place pie crust on top, pressing gently to seal. Cut 4 slits into crust and garnish with thyme leaves. In a small bowl, beat 1 egg with 1 tablespoon milk. Lightly brush over crusts. This will give the crusts a golden-brown color.

Place ramekins on baking sheet and bake in 400ºF oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and filling is bubbling.

While the chicken pot pies are baking, I clean up the kitchen.

Itadakimasu!

***

Meet Kelly and Erik. They're friends--and also relatives. Kelly must be in about 1st grade in this photo, and Erik in 3rd.

It's been a lot of fun watching them grow into adults. You might remember Kelly from my Beef Dip Sandwiches post. Kelly is talented at thrifting. She combs the thrift stores for items she can modify into things she can use.

Erik is an artist. He has always loved drawing and worked for a company doing marketing and designs for clothing. Now he's started a business called Cloud Kicker Society--a lifestyle brand for the Vapers. The website is coming soon.

He also loves music and used to be a DJ. Erik is soft-spoken and funny. He can cook, too.

Erik and Kelly's mother, Meg, recently retired and the whole family celebrated her retirement and birthday at a gathering over the weekend.

Every month, this part of our family has a gathering. The get-togethers  are so much fun and insure that the family will all know one another and stay close.

The parties have a theme for the pot-luck dinners--which adds more fun seeing and tasting what everyone makes. You might remember the Cajun-themed dinner featured on my Easy Oven Roux Gumbo post.

That's Mako on the left. He's the one that notifies everyone of the parties and themes. Every family needs a person willing to be one that keeps everyone in-touch. Thank you, Mako, for being that person!

Nancy, Jessica, Rick and Maria are enjoying the festivities.

Lena, Garrett, Meg (and I) are talking about wedding preparations. Lena and Garrett and getting married later this year--I'm so excited!

I finally got the opportunity to meet David, Brianna's boyfriend. Brianna is working on a dietetic internship and has a blog! You can find Instant B Play filled with lots of good information on nutrition and a healthy lifestyle.

Sriracha chicken wings and Easy Oven Baked Chipotle Wings were appetizers I brought. I am working on a recipe for the sriracha wings.

My other appetizer was this Homesyle Sushi Bar. This time I added some spam spears and tempura shrimp. The tempura makes for a nice and crunchy temaki--handroll sushi. Serve the sushi bar with a half-sheet of nori so people can make their own sushi the way they like it.

I wonder what the theme of next month's gathering will be!

***

Chicken Pot Pie

serves 6 to 8

2 Tablespoons olive oil (or butter), plus 1 T butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium sweet onion, diced

3 cups diced celery

3 cups chopped carrots

1 cup diced potatoes

1 cup peas

1 lb. mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

4-6 cups chicken stock

1 bay leaf

4 cups cooked chicken, cut or shredded into bite-sized pieces

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons corn starch, if needed

1 teaspoon dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

2 prepared pie crusts

1 egg plus 1 Tablespoon milk

In a heavy pot, saute vegetables with 2 tablespoons olive oil or butter over medium heat until vegetables are softened but not browned, about 10 minutes. Remove from pot and set aside.

In the same pot, add 1 tablespoon butter and saute the sliced mushrooms until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the vegetable mixture, add 1/4 cup flour and mix over medium heat until well-combined, about 1 minute. Add chicken broth, stirring constantly, and bring to simmer. Add bay leaf, dried thyme and season with salt and pepper.

Add cooked chicken and cream, return pot to simmer. Adjust thickness of broth if necessary--in a cup, mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water--add a little at a time to pot, while stirring, to thicken gravy. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Using prepared or homemade pie crust, cut pie crust to size of ramekins plus about 1-inch. Fill ramekins. Moisten edge of ramekins and place pie crust on top, pressing gently to seal. Cut 4 slits into crust and garnish with thyme leaves. Place ramekins on baking sheet and bake in 400ºF oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and filling is bubbling.

Potato Leek Clam Chowder

I've been craving clam chowder and bought a can of clams and some clam juice, but it's been sitting in my pantry--waiting--until now. I made Spaghetti with Clams, Leeks and Garlic Chives for a birthday party the other day, so with a bundle of clams leftover from the party and the canned ones in the pantry comes a perfect time to make some clam chowder!

You don't have to use fresh clams, in fact, I kind of prefer the canned ones--not the baby clams, but the chopped ocean clams. I bought the canned clams at Smart & Final.

I made the chowder with the canned clams, cooked the fresh steamers separately and added them to the top of each bowl.

I bought the fresh clams at Costco. It was the first time the clams I got there were a little gritty--up until this time they were cleaned and didn't have sand in them. To clean the clams so they don't have sand inside them, put them in a bowl of 4 cups water with 2 tablespoons sea salt dissolved in it (the water line should be so the clams are covered with water halfway up their shell), in the refrigerator for several hours. The clams will siphon the water in but then spit it out along with the sand in their stomachs. Soak them in freshwater for about an hour before serving so they're not too salty.

 I didn't take photos of the ingredients this time, but these are from the Spaghetti with Clams, Leeks and Garlic Chives recipe.

 Wash the leeks and chives well and slice thinly. The rest of the cooking instructions are in the recipe below.

Looking at the photos I took the last time I bought clams from Costco,  the clams in the picture above are farmed Manila clams. The ones I used this time are not the same variety, they're white shelled, where the Manila clams are brown. I didn't notice what variety the ones I bought this time were (reinforces the fact that I should have taken photos!) or if they were wild (which would explain the sand).

Potato Leek Clam Chowder

This recipe makes a 7 quart pot of soup, which will serve about 10-12, so you may want to cut down the quantities.

Ingredients:

1-51 oz. can Chopped Ocean Clams

1-51 oz. can Clam Juice

2 leeks, cleaned thoroughly and sliced thinly

1/2 cup garlic chives, sliced thinly

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

4 cups celery (be sure to include the leaves) chopped

1 medium sized sweet onion, chopped

4-6 medium sized potatoes, diced 

2 cup chopped carrots

about 4 cups half-and-half or milk

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 to 1/2 cup flour

thyme leaves

2 bay leaves

generous pinch chili flakes

salt and pepper to taste

optional: 4 - 5 pounds of fresh clams

If using fresh clams, clean by soaking them in salty water for several hours so the clams spit out sand, then soak for an hour in fresh water. Drain and set aside.

In a large 7 quart pot, saute chopped leeks, garlic chives, onions, celery, carrots, potatoes and garlic in 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat until soft and wilted, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour on vegetables and mix well, with the flour absorbing any fats and liquid in the pot. Add the can of clam juice and juice from the canned clams, mixing well until evenly incorporated. Add water if necessary to make the vegetables/broth ratio how you like it--I added about 5-6 cups water and spices.

Simmer about 30 minutes on medium/low heat until the potatoes and carrots are tender. Add the canned clam pieces and the half-and-half or milk. Taste and adjust seasonings. To make the soup thicker,  mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 1/4 cup water. Stirring constantly, add, a the cornstarch, a little at a time, to hot soup (just under boiling) until desired thickness. Reduce heat and hold until ready to serve.

To steam fresh clams, boil about a 1/2 inch of water in a large frying pan, place clams in the pan, put the lid on and steam for about 5 minutes or until clams are open. 

Ladle hot soup into bowl and place steamed clams on top.

Itadakimasu!

***

I've been doing some knitting.

This little afghan is so simple to make, it only uses one stitch, garter stitch. You can use your leftover yarn or any collection of colors you like. I collected these colors for a little girl I have in mind and I wanted the blanket to look like a spring garden.

I'm using a 10.5 US gauge knitting needle, but I think it could stand to be a bit bigger since the afghan is a little on the thicker/heavy side, so a 13 or 15 might be better and make the blanket more airy. 

I cast on 100 stitches in the green, knit 6 rows to make an end border, change to a different yarn and knit 2 rows, change back to green and knit 3 rows. I'm using an odd number of rows between yarn changes so either side can be the right side. Repeat until you've reached desired length and knit 6 rows of green for an ending border. To finish, I'm going to make a fringe on the ends with matching yarns.

Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Stew

Do you ever start out making one dish and then change your mind in the middle of preparations?

That's what happened to me.

I started out making Chicken Pot Pie and then thought about how I'm not a real fan of the crust--so the dish changed to Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Stew.

I made the stew with leftover chicken, but you could buy a rotisserie chicken to cut down on the prep time.

I don't have pictures of the preparation of this dish because another one of my camera memory cards became unreadable.

Thankfully, I finally figured out what I have been doing wrong after doing some research online.

I had a habit of snapping the camera 'off' after taking a series of photos, and apparently the camera didn't have enough time to write the photos to the memory card--and the memory card became damaged.

Now I am leaving the camera 'on' and letting it turn off by itself after a minute or so--hopefully I won't damage any more cards!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 large sweet onion, chopped

1 1/2 cups chopped celery, leaves and all

2 carrots, chopped

1 package mushrooms, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 russet potatoes, diced

2 bay leaves

a pinch of dried rosemary, thyme and oregano

3 cups cooked, shredded chicken

4 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup white wine, if desired

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk, half & half or cream

optional: 

2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water if the soup needs further thickening

Shred or dice the cooked chicken and set aside.

Heat a soup pot and add 2 tablespoons olive oil and the chopped onion, celery, carrots, mushrooms, garlic potatoes and spices. Saute over medium high heat until the vegetables are wilted.

Add the chicken broth and white wine, if desired. Bring to boil and simmer gently until the vegetables are soft.

In another small pan, melt the 2 tablespoons butter, add 2 tablespoons flour and whisk together until evenly combined. Simmer for a few minutes, lower the heat if necessary, being careful not to let the mixture turn brown. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly so lumps don't form. Mixture should be thick since you're going to add it to the stew. After mixture thickens and the consistency is even, add it to the stew and combine well.

Simmer for 5 minutes, season with salt and pepper, taste and adjust seasonings.

Add the 2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water if the soup needs further thickening by bringing the pot to a gentle boil and adding the cornstarch mixture while stirring. Simmer gently for 5 more minutes.

Garnish with chopped parsley, chives or jalapeños.

Itadakimasu!

***

This is my sister Margaret.

This photo was on my Tuna Poke post, if you've been following along, you may have seen it before.

That was when I began to add something personal after the recipes.

As you can see, Margaret is a lot of fun.

Margaret is about a month old in this photo.

That year, all I wanted for Christmas was my two front teeth.

Because I already had a baby sister.

And my brothers Gordon and Warren.

Margaret has had long hair her whole life.

This is one of my favorite photos of Margaret and Ken.

This one, too.

Margaret is an athlete.

In high school she won the Wilson Award to honor the outstanding senior girl for scholarship, athletics and leadership.

These days Margaret's a runner.

Margaret married her high school sweetheart, Andy, in my mother's wedding dress.

As I've said before, my mom and my sister have a lot in common. 

They are both gentle souls with a calm, reserved manner, fun, funny, talented, humble, thoughtful and patient.

I tend to be a little on the emotional side, and they are always such great sounding boards for me.

I don't know what I'd do without either of them.

It's funny that just recently, Margaret told me that she thinks I got all the talent.

I don't think so.

Margaret's very artistic--she can draw--and I can't.

She's crafty too.

Several years ago, her family moved to Hawaii.

I miss them.

I cherish their visits, they always seem so short!

When she was here visiting earlier this year, she got Warren and I to go to The Price Is Right with her.

Like I said before, 

She's a lot of fun!

Love you, Margaret!