Friends Food Family

Thomas Keller's Chicken Pot Pie

  

Last weekend, we spent most of Sunday preparing meals for the rest of the week. We had a turkey dinner in mind as well as using up the last of a roaster chicken we had cooked earlier that week. As we looked through books to figure out what we would make, Jeff pulled out Thomas Keller's "ad hoc at home". This is a great cookbook with delicious recipes, stories and instruction. He came across a chicken pot pie and that was as far as he needed to go. I love chicken pot pie! And so do my kids.

I used to buy Willow Tree Pies...which are delicious, but I like chicken pot pies with potatoes, onions, carrots, celery and peas. I want a meal when I have a piece of pie, not have to make the side dishes. If you do find a chicken pot pie with vegetables, I find there isn't much meat.

As I read the recipe it seemed a bit more intensive than I thought, especially since we had to make our own pie crust. As much as I don't mind making a crust, I can be lazy when it comes to pastry dough. Why can't I just use Pillsbury Ready-Made Pie Crust? It's really pretty good. Thinking I needed to take this pie crust on, I rolled up my sleeves, took out the flour and started making dough.

It really wasn't that hard and before I knew it, I had two disks of dough in the refrigerator chilling as we finished the filling for the pie. The dough chilled for an hour, I rolled it out with ease and before I knew it, the crusts were rolled the filling was in place, we covered the pie and folded the edges. Two holes for the steam and a brushing of a beaten egg across the top and we were ready to go.

As you can tell, it came out perfect (both inside and out). What I loved was the fact that the chicken pot pie wasn't swimming in sauce. As you ate the pie, you tasted the chicken, the potatoes, the onions, the carrots...and the crust was flaky, buttery...delicious. As you can tell the first sitting ate half the pie and the second sitting almost finished it. As we saved the leftovers, bickering had started as different people claimed a piece for the following days lunch.

If you have the time, consider making the crust, the time spent is well worth it. If you don't have time, purchase a ready made crust see how good this chicken pot pie is. The taste and the time spent to make the recipe are well worth it!

Ingredients:
Pie Crust
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 1/2 sticks of butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and chilled
About 5 tablespoons of ice water

Preparation:
Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Then add the butter and toss to coat with flour. With your hands or a pastry blender, work the butter into the flour, tossing and incorporating any pieces of butter that have settled at the bottom of the bowl, until the butter pieces are no larger than a pea. Drizzle 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) of ice water over the top and, using a fork, mix the dough until it holds together when pinched: add the remaining tablespoon of water if the dough is very dry. Knead the dough until it is completely smooth and the butter is incorporated. (I used all 5 tablespoons)

Divide the dough in half, with one piece slightly larger than the other (the larger crust will be the bottom piece). Shape each half in a 1 inch thick disk. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for atleast one hour, or up to a day. (if the dough does not rest, it will shrink as it bakes.)

If the dough is too hard to roll, let it rest at room temperature for a few minutes or pound it a few times with a rolling pin. Lightly flour the work surface and rolling pin. Lightly dust the top of the large disk with flour and roll it out to a 13 to 14 inch round about 1/8 inch thick: roll outward from the center, rotating the dough frequently and adding a little flour to the work surfaceor dough as needed to prevent sticking. Fold the dough in half and transfer to a 9 to 10 inch pie plate, gently easing the dough into the corners and up the sides.

Roll out the second piece of dough in the same manner, to a 12 inch round, about 1/8 inch thick. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Refrigerate both doughs for 15 minutes.

Makes one 9 to 10 inch double crust pie.

Chicken Pie Filling:
1 cup of 1/2-inch pieces red-skinned potatoes
1 1/4 cups of 1/2-inch pieces carrots (cut on the diagonal)
12 white pearl onions
3 bay leaves
3 thyme sprigs
24 black peppercorns
1 1/4 cups of 1/2-inch pieces of celery (cut on the diagonal)
2 cups of shredded cooked chicken

Bechamel Sauce:
3 tablespoons of unsalted butter
3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
3 cups of whole milk
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
1 tablespoon finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped thyme
Pinch of cayenne

1 egg, beaten

Preparation:
Roll out the dough, place one piece in a 9 or 10 inch pie plate and the second on a baking sheet, and refrigerate.

Put the potatoes, carrots, and onions in separate small saucepans with water to cover and add 1 bay leaf, 1 thyme sprig, and 8 peppercorns to each pan.
Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and simmer until just tender, 8 to 10 minutes.

Drain the vegetables, discard the bay, thyme, and peppercorns, and spread on a baking sheet. Cut the onions in half.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Fill a medium bowl with ice water. Blanch the celery until just crisp-tender, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.
Drain, transfer to the ice bath, and chill just until cold. Drain and add to the baking sheet with the other vegetables.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 2 to 3 minutes; adjust the heat as needed so that the mixture does not brown. Whisk in the milk, lower the heat to keep the bechamel at a gentle simmer, and cook, whisking often, until the sauce has thickened and reduced to about 2 cups, 30 to 40 minutes; move the whisk over the bottom and into the corners of the pan to be sure the bechamel doesn't burn.

Position the oven racks in the lower third and center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Strain the bechamel through a fine-mesh conical strainer into a spouted measuring cup. Season with salt, pepper, parsley, thyme, and cayenne.

Remove both doughs from the refrigerator.

Scatter the vegetables and chicken into the pie shell. Pour the bechamel over them. At this point, if the top crust is too hard to shape, let it rest at room temperature for a few minutes. Moisten the rim of pie shell with some of the beaten egg. Cover the filling with the top crust and press the edges of the dough together to seal. Trim away the excess dough that overhangs the rim. Brush the top crust with the egg. Cut a small vent in the center of the dough with a small cutter or the tip of a paring knife to allow steam to escape.

Bake on the lower oven rack until the crust is a rich golden brown, 50 minutes to 1 hour. If necessary, move the pie to the center rack during the last 10 minutes of baking to brown the crust. Transfer to a cooling rack and let rest for 10 minutes.

Cut the pot pie into 6 wedges and serve warm.

 

America's Test Kitchen - Apple Slab Pie

 

Yes, we have found yet another Special Collector's Edition of Best-Ever Recipes from America's Test Kitchen. It couldn't have been the Ultimate Turtle Brownies on the cover that lured me in, maybe it was the promise of so many great recipes to have fun with!

So, may I start with the Apple Slab Pie. I saw the picture and thought...it is apple season, it had an apple icing and looked pretty easy to make since the crust was store bought. This will be my first project of the long weekend.

The pie was a little more challenging than I thought, especially trying to roll together two crusts with animal cracker crumbs in-between. But I will say, it added great flavor to the crust. The process for releasing apple juices and having a pie filling that was juicy but not runny made for a crispy crust and an amazing flavor. My only issue was when I didn't reduce the apple juice to 1/4 cup, necessary for the icing to set. Mine was a little runny but still delicious.

This is a great treat for big crowds since you can cut 15-20 pieces of pie. The crust to the pie is solid so it is easy to pick up like a brownie and eat it with your hands. Try this recipe before we get into the holidays because once you have mastered the crust, this could be your favorite apple pie!

For apples:

8 granny smith apples (about 3½ pounds) peeled, cored, and sliced thin

8 golden delicious apples (about 3½ pounds) peeled, cored, and sliced thin

1 cup of sugar

½ teaspoon of salt

For crust:

1½ cups of animal crackers (I used Barnum Animal Crackers)

½ cup of sugar

2 (15 oz.) boxes of Pillsbury Ready to Roll Pie Crust

2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted and cooled

6 tablespoons of minute tapioca

2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

3 tablespoons of lemon juice

Glaze for pie:

¾ cup of reserved apple juice (from filling)

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 T. unsalted butter, softened

1¼ c. powdered sugar

For the pie: Combine the apples, sugar and salt in a colander set over a large bowl. Let rest, tossing occasionally until the apples release their juices, about 30 minutes. Press gently on the apples to extract the liquid and reserve ¾ of a cup of the juice.

For crust: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Pulse crackers and sugar in food processor until they are finely ground. Dust the work surface with cracker mixture; brush half of one pie round with water, overlap with second pie round and dust top with cracker mixture (about 1/2 the mixture total for each set of crusts). Roll out the dough to 19 x 14 " and transfer to a rimmed baking sheet. Brush dough with the butter and refrigerate; roll top crust in the same way.

Net steps: Toss the drained apples with tapioca, cinnamon, and lemon juice and arrange evenly over the bottom crust, pressing lightly to flatten. Brush the edges of the bottom crust with water and arrange the top crust on the pie. Press the crusts together and use a paring knife to trim any excess dough. Use a fork to crimp and seal the outside edges of pie. Bake until the pie is golden brown and juices are bubbling, about 1 hour. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 1 hour.

For the glaze: While the pie is cooling, simmer the reserved apple juice in a saucepan over medium heat until syrupy and reduced to ¼ cup, about 10 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and butter and let cool to room temperature. Whisk in the powdered sugar and brush glaze evenly over the warm pie. Let the pie cool completely, at least 1 hour longer.

The Disappearing Apple Crisp

 
Seven plus years ago, around Thanksgiving to be exact, the Boston Globe ran a food section on apple pies. There was an apple crisp which was highlighted, so I cut it out figuring this would be my holiday dessert. The original recipe was a delicious apple crisp with a pie crust bottom. I made it a few times with the crusted bottom but found that everyone would eat the inside and topping and leave the crust behind. I ended up adapting the recipe to the eaters in my house. I started making the recipe without the crust and would add various fruits, depending on the season. Sometimes I would make it with apples and pears, other times I would throw in a cup of fresh raspberries or cranberries and one summer we made it with peaches and blueberries. Each variation seemed to taste better than the last.

The other night, I was looking at some apples and decided to make an apple crisp for dessert. I haven't made it since Thanksgiving and I forget how good it is warm from the oven with some vanilla ice cream. It was soooo good!

As I was spooning the last bit from the pan to photograph, I kept eating the remaining crumbs, stuck to the sides of the pan. It really is addictive...apples, cinnamon and a sweet oatmeal crunch. I think I'm going to hide the last cup for later. So, as far as anyone else is concerned...the apple crisp is gone.

Ingredients:

 7 Apples (I use a mixture of Green Apples, MacIntosh, Delicious or whatever is in season)

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1 tablespoon of vanilla

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

2 tablespoons of honey

2 tablespoons of cornstarch

Pinch of Salt

Crumb Topping:

1/2 cup of butter (softened)

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup of oatmeal

1 cup of flour

Peel, core and slice apples into 1/4 inch slices, place into a bowl. Add the brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, honey, cornstarch and pinch of salt. Stir and let rest for about 10 minutes to create juices for crisp. Place in 9 x 13 baking dish or 9 inch pie pan.

Mix together softened butter, brown sugar, flour and oatmeal to form crumbs. Sprinkle over apple mixture in baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes until golden and bubbly.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Hide any remaining pieces.

Fresh Pear Pie with Dried Cherries

Every Thanksgiving, Jeff and I would agree that we would like to try and make a holiday pie. Not being very good at making a pie crust, we avoided it by making our Apple Raspberry Crumble. Great topping...no crust. This year we found a recipe in the Fine Cooking Magazine called Fresh Pear Pie with Dried Cherries and Brown Sugar Streusel. It looked good and only had one crust so we figured we'd attempt our first pie.

The pie was fairly easy to make, the crust was a little bit of a challenge. We got it rolled out and into the pie pan; it seemed too short and we struggled to crimp the ends. It didn't look great going into the oven but appeared much better coming out.

I am an apple pie fan through and through but this was DELICIOUS. Tasting similar to an apple pie, it had a wonderful texture and sweetness, especially combined with the dried cherries. The crust was buttery and firm and it never lost its texture even as we continued to eat the pie after Thanksgiving.

We have guests coming for dinner next Saturday and having been reminded of how good this was, we are making a Fresh Pear Pie for dessert.

For the streusel

4-1/2 oz. (1 cup) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 tsp. table salt
4 oz. (8 Tbs.) unsalted butter, melted

For the filling

3 lb. ripe Anjou or Bartlett pears (5 or 6 medium), peeled and cored, cut lengthwise into 8 wedges and then crosswise into 1/2-inch slices (about 7 cups)
1-1/2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1-1/8 oz. (1/4 cup) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. table salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 cup dried tart cherries, coarsely chopped
1 blind-baked All-Butter Piecrust (see below)

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Position a rack in the center of the oven, set a heavy-duty rimmed baking sheet on the rack, and heat the oven to 350°F.

Make the streusel

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, oats, sugar, and salt. Using your fingers, blend the butter into the flour mixture. The mixture will be moist. Set aside.

Make the filling

In a large bowl, toss the pears with the lemon juice. In a small bowl, whisk the sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add the sugar mixture to the pears and toss well to combine. Stir in the cherries.

Mound the filling into the piecrust. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the pear mixture, pressing the streusel between your fingers into small lumps as you sprinkle.

Put the pie on the heated baking sheet and bake until the pastry is golden-brown and the filling is bubbly and thickened at the edges, 55 to 65 minutes. Rotate the pie halfway through baking, and if the pastry or streusel browns before the filling has thickened, loosely cover the top or edges of the pie as needed with a pie shield or a sheet of aluminum foil.

Transfer to a rack and cool completely before serving. The pie can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.

All-Butter Piecrust

6 oz. (1-1/2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. granulated sugar
3/8 tsp. table salt
4 oz. (8 Tbs.) cold unsalted butter, preferably European style, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
3 to 4 Tbs. ice water

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Make the dough

Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl and stir with a rubber spatula or a fork to combine. Add the butter to the bowl. Rub the cold chunks of butter between your fingertips, smearing the butter into the flour to create small (roughly 1/4-inch) flakes of fat.

Drizzle 3 Tbs. ice water over the flour mixture. Stir with the spatula or fork, adding 1 Tbs. more water if necessary, until the mixture forms a shaggy dough that’s moist enough to hold together when pressed between your fingers.

With well-floured hands, gently gather and press the dough together, and then form it into a disk with smooth edges. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for at least 1 hour, but preferably 2 to 4 hours, before rolling.

Roll the dough

Let the chilled dough sit at room temperature to soften slightly—it should be cold and firm but not rock hard. Depending on how long the dough was chilled, this could take 5 to 20 minutes. When ready to roll, lightly flour the counter top or other surface (a pastry cloth, silicone rolling mat, or parchment on a counter also works great) and position the rolling pin in the center of the dough disk. Roll away from you toward 12 o’clock, easing the pressure as you near the edge to keep the edge from becoming too thin. Return to the center and roll toward 6 o’clock. Repeat toward 3 and then 9 o’clock, always easing the pressure at the edges and picking up the pin rather than rolling it back to the center.

Continue to “roll around the clock,” aiming for different “times” on each pass until the dough is 13 to 14 inches in diameter and about 1/8 inch thick. Try to use as few passes of the rolling pin as possible. After every few passes, check that the dough isn’t sticking by lifting it with a bench knife (dough scraper). Re-flour only as needed—excess flour makes a drier, tougher crust. Each time you lift the dough, give it a quarter turn to help even out the thickness.

Line the pie plate

Gently transfer the dough to a 9-inch pie plate, preferably metal, by folding it in half and unfolding it into the plate. Do not stretch the dough as you line the pan, or it will spring back when baked. Gently lift the outer edges of the dough to give you enough slack to line the sides of the pan without stretching the dough.

Trim the overhanging dough to 1 inch from the edge of the pan. Roll the dough under itself into a cylinder that rests on the edge of the pan.

Crimp the edge

To crimp the edge, have one hand on the inside of the edge, and one hand on the outside, and use the index finger of the inside hand to push the dough between the thumb and index finger of the outside hand to form a U or V shape. Repeat around the edge of the pie plate, creating a crimped edge whose individual flutes are about an inch apart. As you are going along, if you notice that the edge is not perfectly symmetrical and that the amount of dough you’ll have to crimp seems sparse in places, take a bit of trimmed scrap, wet it with a drop or two of water, and attach it to the sparse area by pressing it firmly into place.

Prick the sides and bottom of the crust all over with a fork. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour or overnight. This will relax the dough and help prevent the edges from caving in.

Blind bake the crust

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 425°F. Line the chilled piecrust with foil and fill it with dried beans or pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes; remove the foil and the beans or weights. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F.

Bake until the bottom looks dry but is not quite done and the edges are light golden, 5 to 7 minutes more. Let cool on a rack while you prepare the filling.

Make Ahead Tips

This pie dough can be made ahead and refrigerated overnight or frozen (before or after rolling) for up to 3 months. Simply transfer the dough to the refrigerator the night before you plan to make pie, and it’ll be ready to go.