March 2010

Maybe its the recent Mad Men marathon we engaged in that made me feel like cooking something old fashioned or the cold weather and my tired self wanting something comforting. All I know is that I decided last week that I needed to make an easy chicken pot pie.

My sister got me making this recipe in the first place, and I was happy to see how truly easy, versatile, and re-heatable it is.

The ingredients:

1 store bought pie crust

2 cans reduced fat cream of chicken soup

3 chicken breasts, chopped in chunks

3 cups chopped carrot

2 cups string beans (I used frozen because I could not find fresh)

To make the filling, I simply mixed the soup, carrot, string beans, and chopped, raw chicken. I topped it with a good grinding of black pepper and popped it in the oven at 375 for about 15 minutes. In the meantime I stretched and rolled the pie crust to make it fit my pie the best that I could. Then I placed the crust on top of the pie filling and put it back in the oven until golden, about 35 minutes.

Now, I know its not at all pretty. That’s partially because I could not get the crust to stretch and it sort of fell apart. This definitely is not a dish with a wow-factor, but it was really good

Since I only used a top crust, I cut down on the fat and calories of a full pie but still had a bit of that buttery flaky goodness.

It would be easy to vegetarianize the pie by using cream of mushroom soup and omitting the chicken.

The wine pairing of the week? Even before the Austrian wine tasting last week, I had purchased some Austrian wine at the Bin Ends. I decided to pair this creamy, buttery pot pie with a really fresh 2007 Weingut Groiss Grüner Veltliner. The green bottle that this wine comes in is the perfect container as the wine has some great green apple flavors with some of those characteristic Austrian minerals in there. Basically it was refreshing and palate cleansing and went really well with the pot pie. This is a wine that I am excited to drink throughout the spring. Bin Ends has some great deals on Austrian wines, and if you live in the Boston area, you should definitely check them out!

What is your favorite homestyle, throwback meal?