Chicken Pot Pie

Conor requested we have chicken pot pie for dinner - he said we could even buy a store bought one. Obviously I wanted to try and make it instead! I googled a lot of recipes and a lot were very similar... and a little boring! I called my sister on the way to the grocery store to discuss what I found and how I couldn't believe they didn't have certain ingredients (read garlic, thyme) so she started poking around the web for recipes. She found a Jamie Oliver recipe that was definitely in the right direction so I adapted it. It was VERY good. Conor ate his first helping in about 2.5 seconds and then happily went for seconds. I will admit, it takes quite some time to make so it is definitely a Sunday meal or if you've got a lot of time!


Ingredients:
1 tbs olive oil
2 tbs butter
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces
2 medium leeks, trimmed, washed and sliced its 1/2 inch pieces
2 carrots, peeled cut into half moons or quarters
3 sticks of celery, thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic, chopped
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves removed from stem
2 1/2 tbs all purpose flour
3/4 cup dry white wine (i.e., pinot grigio)
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 1/4 cups milk
salt and pepper
2 pre-made pie crusts (tenderflakes brand was great)
1 egg

In a large pot over medium heat, add in olive oil and butter. Add chicken and cook for a minute or two getting it some color. Add leeks, carrots, celery, garlic and thyme. Cook slowly for 15 minutes. Turn up the heat to medium-high and add flour. Stir and cook for a minute. Add wine, chicken stock, and milk. Mix well. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and then cover with a tight fitting lid to simmer. Cook for 30 minutes stirring often (every few minutes or so) to avoid it sticking to the bottom of the pot. At the end of the 30 minutes, the sauce will be loose but relatively thick - if not, you can add more flour. Make sure to stir well to avoid clumps. I did not have to add any additional flour. Season with salt and pepper. When ready, remove from heat. Preheat the oven to 425.

When there is about 15 minutes left for the filling, remove both pie shells from the freezer. They take about 10-15 minutes to defrost. Put the first shell on a baking sheet and put in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove shell and add the filling. I piled more filling in the centre - be careful not to overflow. I did have a little bit of filling left over that I did not use. In a small bowl, whisk 1 egg. Using a cooking brush, brush around the edge of the pie. Remove the remaining pie crust gently from the aluminum container and cover the shell with the filling in it. Using a fork, gently press the edge of the dough together. Brush the egg wash again around the outside and a little over top. Using a knife, create 3 small slits on the top of the pie to allow for steam to escape. Bake for 35 minutes, until golden on top.

Enjoy!

Beef and Butternut Squash Stew

I found a few recipes for a beef and butternut squash stew so decided I would combine them and make my own. Turned out pretty delicious if you ask me! What I learned from making this on a whim is have everything chopped and ready to go. Steps move fast once you start adding things and there isn't necessarily enough time to chop in between. Next time, I might add some green beans to the stew - which is not mentioned below. It would add some color to the dish and a nice crunch. You would just need to add them to the stew in the last 10 minutes of cooking.


Ingredients: 
1 lb stewing beef
1 tbs all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 pepper
2 tbs olive oil, divided
1 small onion, diced
5 cremini mushrooms, thick cut bit sized pieces
3 garlic clove, small chop
2 cups butternut squash, bite sized cubes
1 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary
2 tsp fresh thyme
1/4 cup of dry white wine (i.e, pinot grigio)
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
2 1/2 cups of beef broth
1 tbs cornstarch

In a large zip lock bag, add the stewing beef (bite sized pieces - might have to cut some down depending on how big they come from the store), flour and salt and pepper. Close and shake the bag until the beef is well coated. Set aside.

Dice onion and set aside. Cut mushrooms and set aside. Chop garlic and set aside. Peel and cube butternut squash into bite sized pieces (or do what I did and get the pre-cut stuff from the grocery store because it is hard to peel butternut squash) and set aside. Finely dice the rosemary and thyme, set aside.

In a large pot, heat 1 tbs of olive oil over medium heat.  Add the diced onions and cook for about 2 minutes until they begin to soften. Add the mushrooms, garlic, thyme and rosemary. Cook for another 2 minutes. Remove everything from the pot into a bowl on the side. Increase the heat to medium-high. Add 1 tbs of olive oil. Add half the meat. Cook until the meat is brown and golden. Set aside in the same bowl as the onions etc. Meat does not need to be fully cooked - just going for browning on the outside. If needed, add more olive oil and cook the rest of the meat. When the second batch of meat is done, add the onions and first batch back in.  Add the butternut squash and mix together. Deglaze the pan with wine wine. Scrape up any of the little brown bits that might have formed on the bottom of the pan. Add diced tomatoes and stir (continue scraping the bottom of the pan using the tomato liquid). Add 2 and a 1/2 cups of beef broth (Want to just cover everything in the pot) and give it a good stir. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to low heat. Cook for 1 hour. After the hour, carefully give it a taste - you may want to add some salt and pepper - maybe a little more thyme or rosemary if you wish. To thicken it up at this point, in a small bowl ladle in one big spoonful of the stew broth. Add 1 tbs of cornstarch. Whisk until smooth and no lumps. Pour this back into the pot and stir. Allow a few minutes for it to boil and thicken.

Stews are great served with rice or above we served it with couscous which was quite good.