Chicken Pot Pie, Salad with Simple Vinaigrette, and Coconut Cake

Who doesn't love chicken pot pie?  It's comfort food at its best so I was anxious to try the Ad Hoc version.  "Chicken Pie" is something made very frequently at my home as it is my husband's favorite meal.  I must clarify though that "Chicken Pie" includes no vegetables and is only made with chicken, cream of chicken soup, and a biscuit like topping.  I personally like the addition of vegetables which we will call "chicken pot pie."  In the past, when I have made "chicken pot pie", it's always the same response..."it's good but it isn't chicken pie."  Well, this time was no different.
I served the chicken pot pie with a side salad made with the simple vinaigrette dressing from the book.

I started the process by making my own pie crust.  I am ashamed to admit that I have never made a pie crust from scratch.  I always go for convenience and the frozen ones are so easy.  I never realized how easy (and tasty) it is to make my own!  I started by blending flour, salt, butter, and a little water.  After kneading the dough, it goes into the fridge for at least 1 hour.  All I had to afterwards was roll the dough out.  Simple, simple, simple!

Next I cooked potatoes, carrots, and pearl onions in boiling water until just tender.    

I then blanched chopped celery until crisp tender and added it to the other vegetables. 

The next step was a homemade bechamel sauce made with butter and flour.  I could tell already that this was going to beat the can of cream of chicken soup!

The first pie crust is the bottom of the dish, the vegetables were combined with cooked chicken, and the bechamel was poured over the top. 

I topped with the second pie crust and baked in the oven until golden brown.  The salad was tossed with the simple vinaigrette which is just dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, and oil.

The finished plate...

On to dessert...I started the coconut cake by simmering coconut milk over the stove.  The coconut milk is then combined with cake flour, egg whites, and sugar to make two layer cakes.  The cakes turned out to be really pretty...and you all know my baking skills.

 

The icing for the cake was actually that great meringue recipe that I made in the one of the first recipes.  If you remember, you make a simple syrup that is drizzled into the egg whites and it is delicious!  I iced the two cakes with the meringue and then sprinkled the finished cake with the toasted coconut.

The chicken pot pie was really good.  The bechamel was out of sight and actually lightened up the dish a bit to me.  The homemade pie crust was so flaky and perfect.  I may not waste any more money on the frozen ones!  I also enjoyed the additions of the pearl onions to the dish.  The vinaigrette with the salad was the perfect light side dish.  The cake was super most thanks to all of the egg whites and the icing wasn't too sweet like a lot of coconut cakes.  Everything turned out really well but I still heard the "It's good but IT AIN'T CHICKEN PIE!"

Wild Cod En Persillade and Nantes Carrot Stew

I love seafood but it is hard to find great seafood dishes to make at home if you don't have access to a fish market.  This recipe peaked my curiosity as it included cod which is a common item found in the supermarket seafood case.  The cod is served alongside the nantes carrot stew and the asparagus coins (previously made).

I started by cutting the cod filets into pieces, seasoning with salt, and brushing one side with dijon mustard.

The cod filets were then dredged in a mixture of bread crumbs and parsley.

The cod filets were then browned quickly in oil and then transferred to the oven until cooked through.  Meanwhile, I cut the carrots into oblique shapes.

They were cooked in butter, sherry, carrot juice, curry powder, and herbs.  The cooked carrots were removed while the liquid mixture was reduced to a glaze.

The finished cod served alongside the carrot stew and the asparagus coins...

The cod was really good and I cooked it perfectly.  There is a high oil content so it was pretty rich and buttery.  The asparagus and carrots were great with the fish and the perfect bit was when you got a little of all three in one!  I also used the leftover cod the next night and made a fish taco with fresh pineapple, jalapeno, and red onion.  It was just as good reinvented!

Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup

It's starting to warm up and I am realizing how many soup recipes I have left to go. I am cramming one in before swing is here in full force. For the lentil and sweet potato soup, I ordered Spanish Pardina lentils from La Tienda (www.tienda.com). 

This is a great site for southwestern food products. I also threw in a sample of “grilling sausages” for Matt that included about four different kinds of sausage and chorizo. We haven't tried any yet but I am loving finding these new sources for different ideas and flavors that aren't the same old same old. 

I started the recipe off by rendering the fat off of lardons of applewood smoked bacon. I could probably just stop there and have dinner, it smells so good!

I then cooked chopped leeks, carrots, and onions in the bacon fat with yellow curry powder for seasoning.

In the meantime, I cooked the diced sweet potatoes until just tender.

After the vegetables were cooked, I added chicken broth and the lentils and cooked until the lentils were done. After stirring in the sweet potatoes, I crisped the bacon lardons for garnish and also added cilantro leaves to the finished soup.

I thought the soup was pretty good and it was definitely healthy (minus the bacon anyway). Matt on the other hand wasn't so crazy about it. I thought the lentils were really different. They are a lot smaller than a normal bean and the the curry powder in the seasoning was really good. I also am getting to be a big fan of leeks in almost any dish. The only thing that didn't really go to me was the addition of the sweet potatoes. I think the soup would have been great without that step. All in all, this was a pretty easy recipe, which was nice, but I'm not sure I would make it again exactly as it is written.

Porterhouse Steaks (Actually Filets) with Grilled Asparagus with Prosciutto, Fried Bread, Poached Egg, and Aged Balsamic Vinegar

It is March 1st and my last dish cooked from the book was on Valentine's Day.  I have been bad and I know it!  No excuses here, just a review of how it turned out and a few pictures to share.  All I will say is that I promise to be better after tax day.  I'm actually really looking forward to getting back in the kitchen and trying out some of my new toys from Christmas like the meat grinder and ice cream maker.  The spring also brings more produce and seafood options so we all have that to look forward to.

For Valentine's day, I opted to cook the Porterhouse Steak recipe with Herb & Shallot Butter.  Now a Porterhouse is a big steak, so I trimmed the portion size down to a filet.  I can't imagine it would have been any better had I used the porterhouse.  I started by making a special herb & shallot butter out of sauteed shallots, chopped parsley, paprika, salt, and of course butter.  The butter went back into the fridge and I started work on the asparagus dish.

You may remember the torn bread crouton recipe from previous posts, it is exactly the same.  Cook garlic in hot oil and then tear bread and brown in the oil.  The next step was to poach the eggs and light the grill....yes, everyone - I lit the grill.  Although I'm not sure that I did the little "tee-pee" approach that Matt employs from Boy Scout days correctly...it seemed to take a really long time to get the temperature up.  In the meantime, look how great these filets look...a little salt, pepper, and oil and they were ready to go on the grill,.

The poached eggs turned out great. Sometimes it can be a little hard to poach the perfect egg, but first time was a success.

The filets went on the grill and were brushed with the herb butter.  While the filets "rested", we grilled the asparagus on the grill as well.

 The finished filets were topped with another dollop of the herb butter and the asparagus was combined with prosciutto, the poached egg, and the croutons.  The asparagus dish was drizzled with balsamic vinegar (one of my favorites). 

I think this was our favorite meal yet.  It was so nice to avoid the crowds and cook a quick & easy "gourmet" grilled meal at home on what was a busy work Monday.  The poached egg literally "melted" over the plate with the asparagus and the steak.  The balsamic vinegar combined with the egg yolk really just put the dish over the top.  The butter melted down into the filet and made it really juicy and flavorful.  These two were both "keepers!"

Recipe Countdown:  65 of 251 recipes

(You would think I would be further along than this...lol)