I purchased the cookbook Keepers by Kathy Brennan and Caroline Campion for myself for Christmas (actually, Santa left it for me under our tree). I had read about it in People Magazine and, despite knowing full well that I have enough cookbooks to last me several lifetimes, I was attracted to Kathy and Caroline's realistic-busy-mom approach to cooking and had to own their book. To date, I have made one recipe from their cookbook but I have made it three times as it was a huge hit with my husband and both kids (it's a miracle!!): Sautéed Tilapia with Citrus-Soy Marinade. The dish I chose to make tonight, Chicken Pot Pie, was featured on the cover so it has been tempting me since I first laid eyes on the book.
As promised, I dutifully began reading through the recipe's directions before getting started. I had olive oil in my frying pan, a clove of garlic peeled and ready to go in the mincer, and six slices of raw bacon chopped into small pieces...and then I got distracted. I turned on the burner and began heating the oil before reading any further and then realized that I would only have six minutes, while the bacon crisped, to cut 1-1/2 pounds of chicken thighs into small pieces. (Side note: I can hardly believe it but, until tonight, I have never cooked chicken thighs!) I chopped that chicken up so rapidly I was pretty sure I was going to end up in the ER less half a finger. Fortunately, the worst that happened was that my bacon was slightly crispier than I would have liked (an "issue" that ultimately turned out to have no effect on the taste or texture of the dish).
The recipe called for a 16-ounce bag of frozen mixed vegetables. Out of habit, I bought the carrot-peas-corn mixture. As I was cooking, it occurred to me that just peas and carrots would have been more traditional and, perhaps, tastier. My son actually preferred having the corn in the pot pie but my daughter said she would have liked the dish better without corn. (Side note: I love a recipe that has a few convenience ingredients such as frozen veggies and pre-made puff pastry sheets!) I added two teaspoons of dried thyme to the filling, per the recipe, and was worried that my kids would not like the taste. Happily, that was not the case.
The dish was relatively easy to prepare and put together. I made a small error at the end of the prep portion when I put the puff pastry on top of the filling, I set it down so one end had too much pastry and the opposite end didn't have quite enough. As such, the filling bubbled out the one end a tiny bit. In good news, my audience (my kids) couldn't have cared less.
All in all, we all enjoyed the pot pie, particularly my son (who asked me if I would make it again soon) and myself. I will definitely add this dish to the "rotation".
Dirty Dish Count: A large frying pan, a spatula, a large cutting board, a knife, two measuring cups, two measuring spoons, a small bowl, a fork, a pastry brush, and a casserole dish.
While I was far more successful today than yesterday in terms of reading my recipe up front and preparing all of my ingredients before I begin to cook with any of them, I still need to improve in that area. Wish me luck!
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