Pie

As usual, I didn’t intend to take a whole week off posting, but here I am now. I’ve been having horrid headaches for a couple of weeks and some fairly bad days since my last post. I ascribed it immediately to stress and implored God to do something, but my doctor told me this morning that probably its a hormonal issue, common in the second semester (‘don’t you read pregnancy books?’ she asked, ‘oh, I said, no, I haven’t read one since the first baby. figured I knew everything by now) and gave me a nice fat prescription for a ‘mild narcotic’ to which I look forward very much. I hope Matt will run out and fill it for me this afternoon.

The headache, combined with two boys who have developed a new love or roaring like lions and bears at each other, and a dog who barks at anything that even looks at the house, and a curious child who wakes up and wants immediate feedback (did you know that I like pink and that’s why you gave me the pink plate? did I eat a lot of breakfast? did you know that I like to go outside and that’s why you told me to go in the backyard? etc) has meant that I haven’t been able to think about anything in paticular.

However, I did invent a recepie for Chicken Pot Pie which I will vouchsafe here because it turned out to be divine.

1 pkg chicken pieces (breast, thigh, whateve you like) diced finely
2 or 3 carrots diced small
handfull shallots diced, minced, whatever
2 cloves garlic minced
half bag frozen peas
half bag fozen corn
1 cup stock (I used goose stock from our Christmas goose)
1/2 cup cream
1 tablespoon flour
2 spriggs/stalks fresh rosemary
3 or 4 spriggs/stalks fresh tyme
olive oil
butter
salt/pepper
philo dough

sweat the onions, garlic and carrots until translucent in olive oil.
brown the chicken in butter (seasoned with salt and pepper)
add the peas and corn to the onions and bring back up to heat (I didn’t bother to thaw them first), and then add the chicken (I drained off the chicken juice). Add in the stock, cream, flour, tyme, rosemary and season again.
Let it mellow together, covered, on medium heat while the oven heats and you cut out rounds of philo equal to the top of ramekins or whatever you proposed to bake the pies in. I did individual portions because I didn’t want the philo to overcook before the filling was done.
Uncover the chicken filling and bring it to boil/simmer just to make sure its thick enough–not to soupy. Fill the ramekins. Cove with philo (I did about 6 pieces of philo per pie) and I didn’t bother to baste each layer (although I could have). I only basted the top of each one with milk/cream.
Bake fo 15 minutes in a 400 degree oven.
Feed it to a man intending to watch his wasteline and defy him to resist your culinary powers.