Chicks 'n Pot Pie

Hello friends!  This weekend, we ventured into unchartered territory: we made the Pioneer Woman's "Chicken Pot Pie" (p. 126).  Neither of us had attempted a pot pie before.  Confession:  as much as we like to flatter ourselves in thinking we are strong Midwestern women, we were completely squeamish about touching/handling/cutting to pieces a whole fryer chicken.  So...we didn't.  Sorry, Ree.  Before the end of the year, we will touch/handle/cut to pieces a whole fryer chicken.  We promise.

We began with the "Perfect Pie Crust"  (p. 128).  In a bowl we mixed flour, shortening, salt, an egg, cold water and white vinegar.

Then we floured the counter top and rolled out the dough.

A word of advice:  it would be wise to make the pie crust last or have it chilling in the fridge until you're ready to use it.  Otherwise, it will dry out and adhere itself to the counter top.  Not that we've ever done that.  Nope.

Ahem.

Next, Jo sliced celery, onion and carrots.

Lou cut up boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  That's what the pioneers used, right?  This was cooked in olive oil until done.

The chicken was removed from the Dutch oven, and the vegetables were sauteed.  As soon as the onions were clear, we added the chicken back in to the pot.

To create luscious cream gravy found in all good pot pies, we added flour, white wine and bouillon paste. P-Dub's recipe calls for chicken broth and a bouillon cube instead of bouillon paste.  The final touch was 1 cup of heavy cream.  Heavenly.

Then Mr. Fabuful and Uncle He-Man helped us place the pie crust on top of the mixture.  We decided to use the Dutch oven to bake the pot pie because our pie pan wasn't deep enough.  This went into the oven for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.

Thumbs up.

Voila!

The aftermath:

After a little clean-up, we felt motivated to start in on dessert.  We made "Patsy's Blackberry Cobbler" (p. 212).  First, we whisked flour, sugar and milk together.  Melted butter happily joined the bowl.  This was  poured into Jo's new fancy-pants Le Creuset baking dish.  Things taste better in pretty purple dishes.

Next, we sprinkled blackberries onto the mixture.  Sugar gets to sparkle like jewels on top of this dessert.  Sigh...

In the meantime, Uncle He-Man and Mr. Fabuful were whipping up a fantastic batch of homemade vanilla ice cream to go with the cobbler.  So good!

The final product:  a delectable marriage of tartness and sweetness.

Perfection!

We can't wait for our next P-Dub shin-dig!

Happily Full,