Saturday a week ago found me on my knees in the kitchen, at the huge bottom freezer drawer, sorting and organizing and culling like a madman. It's mighty easy to let both the stored-away food accumulate but also to give the expiration monster too long a leash. A trashbag of no-good goods was unloaded and that took some pressure off from a space standpoint. It also highlighted an abundance of vacuum-sealed proteins that I need to begin using up, including a particular pair of chicken breasts that were dropped into the sous vide immersion circulator at mid-day. Then I set to work preparing a cheddar crust. That was followed by chopping the necessary vegetables and also cheating with a bag of frozen mixed ones. The skillet sauté and wine splash and herbing were lazily undertaken before broth and cream were added to make some worthy goop.
Just after 3:30 pm that afternoon, on a hot humid mixed-clouds day, I served up huge bowls of comforting goodness more suited to a fall weekend than a late summer one. And mighty fine it was anyway, with the bonus of extras to be shared with some neighbors on the street. "Pure sorcery," said one, after sampling it. After a two-and-a-half year absence, I was inclined to agree that something bewitching was afoot.
"Chicken Potpie with Cheddar Crust," from Food Network Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 8 (October 2011), p. 132-133.
