Winter Storm, cold beer and Pot Pie!

It doesn't get much better than this.  We are expecting a winter storm today/tonight and I went to to the store this morning to fortify out pantry.  You can never tell when the weather is going to lock you in and keep you from wanting to go out and do the basics of the basics like grocery shopping.

After talking it over with the wife, we decided that we would make chicken pot pie today.  It's Sunday, neither one of us have to work, and we had most of the ingredients here at home.  Pot pie is one of those dishes that you don't get too often, but when you do, you want it done the right way.  I mean, I could buy the Banquet pot pies at the store for 75cents, doesn't necessarily make it good eats, just cheap eats.  Even though I do have a fond memory of the Banquet beef pot pie baking in the oven to fill a void, this recipe is some serious eats.

Another thing I like to do before a storm is stock up on my beer supply.  Beer is a staple with me.  I enjoy beer for the taste, the simple mixing of grain and other nutrients, the warming eat creates in my soul and my stomach.  Beer, my good friends, is just as much as food to me as the pot pie that I am going to be enjoying tonight.  Today I decided to go simple.  Just a staple of beer that will keep me going through the storm.  I chose Corona.  We'll get to that later.  For now, let's concentrate on the pot pie.

  Start with a hearty bunch of chicken breasts.  The bone in kind.  DO NOT BUY THE BONELESS SKINLESS BREASTS!  They are good for a very few things and they will rob your pot pie of flavor.  Plus, the bone in kind are much cheaper and easy to butcher when you get them to the point you want.  This recipe takes 3 breasts but I had a package of 5 in the freezer.  I can always make chicken salad.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and roast the breasts for 40 minutes if thawed.  If frozen, roast for up to 80 minutes!  Before you roast them, rub the breasts with olive oil and dust heavily with salt and pepper.  You can't go wrong with this.  They will come out so soft and tender and smelling so good that you will want to eat them up before putting them in to your pot pie.

 Ummm, roasted chicken!  Peel it and cut it up!

Cut yourself up about 2.5 cups of onions and 2 cups of carrots.

Take your 12 TB of butter and your onions and heat them till transcluent.

Add 3/4 cup of all purpose flour.  Stir like crazy!

Stir it up like you would a roux.

After you add your 5 cups of stock with the 2 bouillon cubes, this is what is should look like.

Add your tsp pf tarragon.

Add your tsp of dill.

1/2 cup of cream

All your chicken

Add the carrots

Now the peas...

Here it is.  Stir is up under low heat.

Add three scoops to a gratin dish.

Roll out your puff pastry.  Just about enough to cover your dish plus a little more.

Cover the dish.  You should get about 5 dishes out of this pot.  Throw it in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.

The result.

Corona!  Not a cheap beer, but a decent beer.

Cerveza es muy bueno!

The beer is Corona.  We see it in the stores, in the bars, on the T.V.  Is it any good?  Weeeeelllllllll?  Here is my thought on Corona.  It is just a step above the Miller and Bud world that we hear too frequently on the television.  It has a bit of taste that is Corona.  It is a skunk.  Corona has continued to brew their beer in clear glass that allows for the light to get in.  One of the worst things that you can do for beer is give it sunlight.  Much like a vampire, Corona needs the dark to be truly decent.  However, when you think of all the time the beer is taken out of the coolers and into the store, there is a lot of time that the beer is subjected to sunlight.  A lot of time the beer can go skunky.  Whenever you have a Corona, does it not taste a little skunky?  Maybe that is the taste that Corona is going for, or maybe it is just the taste that the beer builds from being in those clear glass bottles.  For $8+, this beer is only truly well bought in case there is nothing else left to buy.  Corona has a great marketing theme, a great packaging, but the product is a little less than desired.  If you have $8 and want a good 6pack, throw in the extra buck and buy a micro brew.