Chicken Pot Pie

I always forget how delicious chicken pot pie is as a winter meal.  Something about the warm creamy inside against the flaky and buttery crust - it is truly a hearty indulgence.  Chicken pot pie is perhaps one of my hubby's most favorite meals.  This recipe, from Southern Living Magazine is absolutely divine.  Give it a try and you will not be disappointed!

Chicken Pot Pie
Recipe from Southern Living Magazine
Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Serves 6

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
2 medium leeks, sliced
1/2 cup flour
1 can or 14.5 oz chicken broth
3 cups cooked chicken
        Note: I like to boil chicken breast and then dice but you can easily buy a rotisserie chicken and use that to save on time.  When I cook my own I buy about 1lb chicken breast to boil and dice.
1 1/2 cups cubed frozen or refrigerated hash browns with onions
1/3 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 package frozen puff pastry thawed
1 egg
* The recipe also calls for matchstick carrots, however I am not a fan of cooked carrots so I left them out

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Melt butter in a skillet over medium to medium high heat.  Add leaks and saute until slightly soft, about 3 minutes.

leeks and butter, it will make your kitchen smell sooooo good!

Sprinkle butter and leeks with the flour and stir constantly with a whisk for about 3 minutes.  The mixture will thicken.  Be careful to keep stirring as you don't want to burn the mixture.

Whisk in chicken broth, keep stirring constantly and bring the mixture to a boil.  You want to keep going until the mixture is bubbling and has thickened quite a bit.

Whisking with chicken broth added.

Once mixture has thickened, remove from heat and add diced chicken, potatoes, parsley, salt and pepper.

Take one of the defrosted puff pastry sheets and layer on the bottom of a pie pan or 9" square pan.  Fill with the chicken mixture.

 Take the second puff pastry sheet and place on top, then fold edges over or squeeze together with the bottom layer so the mixture is sealed inside the pastry layers.

Whisk egg with one Tablespoon of water and brush over the entire top of the pastry.  This will make the top nice golden brown.

Pop in the oven and cook for 50-60 minutes or until golden brown on top.  Now, dig in and enjoy!!!

Potato Latkes

I love to make latkes for Hanukkah.  I truly believe that holidays are made better many times by the food you are eating.  And of course, who you are enjoying said food with.  Latkes are a traditional Jewish dish prepared for Hanukkah.  The latkes are potato pancakes fried in oil; typically, they are topped with sour cream or apple sauce.  I love them with both.  The key to making these fried rounds of delight are to get them crispy and crunchy on the outside and a bit softer in the middle.

One of my good friends let me in on an amazing trick - use the food processor to shred your potatoes.  I now cannot claim that latkes are too much work.  Try it, it will change your life. I actually googled how to shred potatoes with a food processor and a great little YouTube video popped up.  Watch it to see how it's done.

The delicious meal made complete with latkes!

Without further ado, the directions:

Potato Latkes
Time: 30 minutes
Makes 12 latkes

Ingredients:
2 baking potatos
1/2 yellow onion
1/2 tsp or more cracked black pepper
1/2 or more tsp salt
1 Tablespoon flour
1 large egg slightly beaten
1/4-1/2 cup vegetable oil (should be about 1/4 inch filled in pan)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 225 degrees.

Fit food processor with shredding blade.  Peel potatoes and onion.  Shred potatoes and onion in food processor.  Take potatoe/onion mixture out and squeeze out excess water over a strainer.  Let mixture stand about 10-15 minutes to drain out extra liquid.

Put potatoes in bowl and mix with salt, pepper, egg and flour.  Once mixture is combined, heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat.  I used a cast iron skillet to fry the latkes, I find that non-stick pans don't do as good of a job frying...

Once oil is hot, drop tablespoons of potatoe mixture in pan, cook about 4 minutes on each side or until brown and crispy.  Cook the latkes in batches and keep done ones warm in the preheated oven.

Serve with sour cream, applesauce or topping of your choosing! YUM!

Cheese & Olive Plate

No recipe here, but I had to share the picture... typical Sunday afternoon, the hubby and I ate a late breakfast/brunch and were not hungry for lunch.  Instead we took a trip to Whole Foods, bought way too much yummy stuff and made up the Cheese plate as a "snack".  Who needs more than chesee, crackers, hummus, salami and olive mix?! Seriously.