Badass
Pot Pie Recipe
This is the kind of recipe you would want to keep in case
life gives you the opportunity to become a grandma(or grandpa). Mmmmh I can
envision some cute little chubby cheeks whining at me, saying “Granny D, please
make us some Badass Pot Pie.” Seriously, it literally tastes THAT good!
Crust
Ingredients:
160 gr of flour (all purpose)
1 tsp of sugar
100 gr of ice cold unsalted butter/margarine
½ tsp of salt
3-5 tbsp of ice cold water
Methods:
Roughly whisk all the dry ingredients(flour, sugar, salt)
and place them in a food processor.
Next step is to
incorporate the butter. This is basically the key to having a flaky pie crust;
the butter must not be at room temperature. I’ve always frozen the butter
beforehand in the fridge; it doesn’t have to be completely frozen as in
ice-cube-frozen, but it needs to be at a solid form. Cut up the butter into
smaller pieces and add them into the dry ingredients. If your butter is salted,
then no worries, just cut down the amount of salt you put into the recipe. You
can also use margarine. Blend everything in the food processor until they
resemble a coarse salt (it ain’t smooth looking yet).
Don’t have a food processor? That’s okay, it’s not the end
of the world. You need to make sure that your butter is completely frozen, then
grate it with a cheese grater into the flour mixture and incorporate them with
your hands ;)
Next, add the ice cold water 1 tbsp at a time; I figured
that 2 tbsp is actually more than enough to transform the “coarse salt” into a smooth
pie dough.
Take out the dough, form it into a disks (round shape,
okay?) and cover in a plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours(the longer the
better though). This step lets the dough to chill and causes it to have the
kind of structure to make the rolling easier.
After the chilling period, next step is of course to roll it.
Now, when you watch some baking shows, it almost always seems too easy-peasy,
nothing-but-a-walk-in-the-park kinda thing. BUT it ain’t as easy as how it looks like, son.
It’s damn tricky. If you’re an
experienced pie maker, skip this step I’m about to tell you and just roll the
dough in a lightly floured surface ,roll away with a pin, and place it in the
pie crust container.
However, If you’re a n00b in this pie-making-world, pay
close attention to this particular step; it could either make you or break you
;) First, you need a plastic wrap. When it comes to making any dish that deals
with pie crust as a base, this plastic wrap is your momma, your
girlfriend/boyfriend, or your dog/cat(for you animal lovers); bottom line is,
that it is your best friend. Hold on to
it tightly as if your whole meaningless life depends on it. If you don’t have
any plastic wrap with you, then you’ll be skipping the rest of the steps
because you ain’t gonna make it anyway!
The recipe of the pie crust that is mentioned above is
sufficient to cover an 8 inch pie pan. However, this isn’t mandatory. When it
comes to making this Pot Pie recipe, I normally use a small casserole container. Whatever container you decide to use, make
sure that the pie crust dough you roll out is slightly larger than the
container you will be using.
Roll out the plastic wrap as large as the size of the pie
crust dough you’re planning to make. Sprinkle a generous amount of flour on its
surface. Put your dough(that is still in the form of disk) on the middle of the
plastic wrap. Sprinkle more flour on the dough (generously!). And cover it with
another plastic wrap, the same size with the bottom one. Start putting your pin
in the middle of the dough and roll to every direction. Make sure that it is in
the correct thickness (your own preference; the thicker the better though) and also
make sure that it will cover your pie container properly. After you got the right
size, peel out the top plastic wrap, lift the bottom wrap that holds the rolled-out
dough, flip it, and bring it carefully over your container. Peel out the
remaining wrap. Trim out the excess dough around the edges, and poke some small
holes using a fork. This will prevent the dough from ballooning when it is
baked in the oven.
Voila! Congratulations you have successfully accomplished the
trickiest step of pie-making. You may treat yourself a piece of chocolate ;)
Next is to pre-bake the dough at 220 C for 10 minutes. When
it reaches minute sixth, take out the dough and give it some egg wash (beat 1
egg) with a cooking brush. This will prevent the pie crust to turn soggy when
the filling is poured. Put it back in the oven for the remaining 4 minutes. Let
it chill to room temperature.
Filling
Ingredients:
1 large onion
3-4 large Potatoes
2 large Carrots
Basically, any vegetable you love. But I found out that
potatoes and carrots work out so well in this type of dish; therefore, these
two ingredients are mandatory! This is what makes this type of dish my favorite
because you really can get your creativity going. You can add peas, grated
corn, broccoli, the choice is yours!
1 packet of chicken or mushroom cream soup
1 cup of shredded cooked chicken or fish
Methods:
Prepare the potatoes, you can either poach it or steam it. Slice
the potatoes roundly (don’t cut it into cubes) for about 1 cm thick. I
personally prefer to steam it until it starts
to tender. Don’t overcook it, or else it will become too mushy when it is baked
later on.
Heat up some butter/margarine in the pan and pour a bit of
oil so the butter/margarine won’t burn. Chop up the onions and also the carrots
(the carrots into dices) and sauté together in the pan until the carrots start
to tender. This is also the step to process the other vegetables of your
preference(peas, broccoli, corn,etc). Cook 'em all in!
Add the shredded cooked chicken or fish.
In another sauce pan, bring the chicken/mushroom cream soup
to a boil. However, if you want to make the filling completely from scratch,
you don’t have to use the cream soup. You can make a roux (butter, flour) and
add milk until your sauce thickens to the right consistency. Don’t forget to
add seasonings.
Mix the soup and the
cooked vegetables. Let the
filling chill for a bit.
Next step is to assemble the potato slices in the bottom of
the pre-baked pie crust. Then, pour out the filling.
If you want your pot pie recipe to have a double pie crust (it's optional),
all you have to do is double the pie crust recipe above. Roll out another dough and use it to
cover the top of your pot pie container that has already been filled with pie
crust and filling. Poke some holes on top of it and give a splash of egg wash.
Bake the pot pie in the oven at 190 degree C for 45-55
minutes.
There you have it, your heavenly Badass Pot Pie is ready to be savored!
