Curiosity, Courage, and Chicken Pot Pies

Wrapped up in a cosy green, a colour which covers all the walls in this house, and symbolises the growth and rejuvenation it once stood for, and perhaps brings to us as well, I sipped a hot ginger and lemon tea and read a book beside the trails of rain streaming down the windows. Through a storm we spent huddled on our big couch or behind a pair of binoculars trying to spot the first white caps thundering into the harbour. Behind thick lenses we could see a brave fisherman in the wind, and the train of seagulls behind the boat as his crab traps were pulled up from under the waves. It was wonderful to feel so at home behind the front of a big storm rolling in, and the cups of tea held between our hands, or hot plates for dinner, kept us feeling comforted and warm. 

Perhaps it's just the cold left behind from a busy weekend of showing my friends some of my favourite places here while they visited, including a full bakery breakfast and some gluten free French toast for me, as well as a trip to Victoria in the pouring rain, but I've found having so much time difficult at the moment. Maybe it's also that we've been here a month now, and we really are settling in, I mean mum's getting movie suggestions from ladies at the grocery store checkout and we actually recognise people on our daily walks ("he was here yesterday," mum will whisper to me, or I'll wonder where the tall guy was as we come back around the beach). Especially underneath the patter of the continuous and comforting sounds of rain, and left dependant on ginger teas and Tylenol, as well as warming dinners such as home made chilli and steaming chicken pot pies, I almost feel restless to get out and explore, and finally find a foothold in this new town, among new people, and to step there to begin a climb into the unknown.

Once I'm feeling better I'm almost sure I'll feel just about the same way. Having a cold is giving me just enough of an excuse to sit on my ass, read non-stop novels in fuzzy blankets and put up a little less fight when it comes to going to sleep each night. Right now I have an excuse to test out the slug routine completely, but I know I have too much energy to keep it up for too much longer. When I'm sitting down I feel restless, but when I get up I'm almost light headed as if being told to get back to slugging once again, just a little longer, it beckons, get it out of your system.

Soon I'll find a job, a little courage to push me into the world again will go along way. A little curiosity for the unknown will keep my restlessness happy too, and new things, or that chance we take, will leave us with the surprise of being enlightened and thrilled by something new. 

Starting from the moment I'm up and out of my pyjamas, the sheets have been washed clean, and I'm no longer drinking several cups of tea before noon, I'm going to take the chances I need to, and because I never know what they might bring, nor what opportunities I might find along the way. Fear can no longer come into the equation, instead, it's all energy and curiosity

What I intended when we first moved was to take a while to get on my feet, and to realise the freedom and opportunities I had. Now, with a few weeks of lazy mornings, exploring, and finally the reality of a cold and days of rain, I know that my plan was to take myself in a direction different from any anticipated before, a kind of unplanned 'plan' for adventure. Now, it's time I start, even if I begin by opening up and exploring around me and taking opportunities and risks when they arrive


For me.  

Gluten Free Chicken Pot Pies

{print me here}


Using last week's recipe for famously good gluten free pastry, one that I couldn't help but play with before freezing and rolling out because it worked (and looked!) so well, it was an easy, and almost familiar, recipe to work out. For a stormy afternoon spent beside the stove, it was wonderful to be welcomed with heart warming chicken pot pies when I brought them from the oven, and as each person had their own, there was no worry about sharing. All that deliciousness was happily kept to ourselves. 

{makes 5 - 6 individual chicken pot pies}


{Ingredients:}

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 chicken breasts, diced
1/2 cup almond meal
1 medium yam or sweet potato, peeled and diced
3/4 cup sliced carrots
3/4 cup frozen peas

2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup canned coconut milk

1/2 of this gluten free pastry recipe, set aside in the fridge at least 30 minutes before use

1 egg, beaten

{Directions:}

Preheat oven to 375° F. 

In a skillet over medium-low heat, slowly heat oil and cook onions until softened. Add diced chicken and cook thoroughly.

Meanwhile, boil yam and carrots until tender, but not mushy. Remove from heat, drain, and set aside.

Add almond meal, stirring to coat, and then add chicken broth and coconut milk. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in yam, carrots and peas, cooking until peas are frozen.

Transfer mixture to individual ramekins, or pour into one large casserole dish. Set aside while you roll out the pastry.

Cut pastry into as many separate ramekins used for the chicken pot pie, or if making one large pie, roll the whole pastry out.

Press down between two sheets of parchment paper to form a small disk before using the rolling pin to flatten and spread out. As if following the numbers on a clock, roll out facing 12 o'clock first, continuing to 1 o'clock, and travelling around the entire clock rolling out the pastry evenly.

Once the pastry has reached the desired size, peel of one side of the parchment paper and flip onto the pie dish, with chicken pot pie filling already inside. Carefully peel off the remaining layer of parchment, going slowly to limit any tearing of the pastry. Tuck the edges of the pastry underneath itself, pressing down the edges onto the top of the dish. Repeat with remaining dough and ramekins.

In a separate small bowl, beat one egg, and brush it over the top of each pie, covering the pastry. Cut 5 small slits in the top of each pie and on a large baking tray, place the pies in the oven.

Bake between 50 and 60 minutes. Cool before serving.

Enjoy! 

xx S


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Think of Me Gluten-Free: Curiosity, Courage, and Chicken Pot Pies

02 October 2013

Curiosity, Courage, and Chicken Pot Pies

Wrapped up in a cosy green, a colour which covers all the walls in this house, and symbolises the growth and rejuvenation it once stood for, and perhaps brings to us as well, I sipped a hot ginger and lemon tea and read a book beside the trails of rain streaming down the windows. Through a storm we spent huddled on our big couch or behind a pair of binoculars trying to spot the first white caps thundering into the harbour. Behind thick lenses we could see a brave fisherman in the wind, and the train of seagulls behind the boat as his crab traps were pulled up from under the waves. It was wonderful to feel so at home behind the front of a big storm rolling in, and the cups of tea held between our hands, or hot plates for dinner, kept us feeling comforted and warm. 

Perhaps it's just the cold left behind from a busy weekend of showing my friends some of my favourite places here while they visited, including a full bakery breakfast and some gluten free French toast for me, as well as a trip to Victoria in the pouring rain, but I've found having so much time difficult at the moment. Maybe it's also that we've been here a month now, and we really are settling in, I mean mum's getting movie suggestions from ladies at the grocery store checkout and we actually recognise people on our daily walks ("he was here yesterday," mum will whisper to me, or I'll wonder where the tall guy was as we come back around the beach). Especially underneath the patter of the continuous and comforting sounds of rain, and left dependant on ginger teas and Tylenol, as well as warming dinners such as home made chilli and steaming chicken pot pies, I almost feel restless to get out and explore, and finally find a foothold in this new town, among new people, and to step there to begin a climb into the unknown.

Once I'm feeling better I'm almost sure I'll feel just about the same way. Having a cold is giving me just enough of an excuse to sit on my ass, read non-stop novels in fuzzy blankets and put up a little less fight when it comes to going to sleep each night. Right now I have an excuse to test out the slug routine completely, but I know I have too much energy to keep it up for too much longer. When I'm sitting down I feel restless, but when I get up I'm almost light headed as if being told to get back to slugging once again, just a little longer, it beckons, get it out of your system.

Soon I'll find a job, a little courage to push me into the world again will go along way. A little curiosity for the unknown will keep my restlessness happy too, and new things, or that chance we take, will leave us with the surprise of being enlightened and thrilled by something new. 

Starting from the moment I'm up and out of my pyjamas, the sheets have been washed clean, and I'm no longer drinking several cups of tea before noon, I'm going to take the chances I need to, and because I never know what they might bring, nor what opportunities I might find along the way. Fear can no longer come into the equation, instead, it's all energy and curiosity

What I intended when we first moved was to take a while to get on my feet, and to realise the freedom and opportunities I had. Now, with a few weeks of lazy mornings, exploring, and finally the reality of a cold and days of rain, I know that my plan was to take myself in a direction different from any anticipated before, a kind of unplanned 'plan' for adventure. Now, it's time I start, even if I begin by opening up and exploring around me and taking opportunities and risks when they arrive


For me.  

Gluten Free Chicken Pot Pies



Using last week's recipe for famously good gluten free pastry, one that I couldn't help but play with before freezing and rolling out because it worked (and looked!) so well, it was an easy, and almost familiar, recipe to work out. For a stormy afternoon spent beside the stove, it was wonderful to be welcomed with heart warming chicken pot pies when I brought them from the oven, and as each person had their own, there was no worry about sharing. All that deliciousness was happily kept to ourselves. 

{makes 5 - 6 individual chicken pot pies}


{Ingredients:}

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 chicken breasts, diced
1/2 cup almond meal
1 medium yam or sweet potato, peeled and diced
3/4 cup sliced carrots
3/4 cup frozen peas

2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup canned coconut milk

1/2 of this gluten free pastry recipe, set aside in the fridge at least 30 minutes before use

1 egg, beaten

{Directions:}

Preheat oven to 375° F. 

In a skillet over medium-low heat, slowly heat oil and cook onions until softened. Add diced chicken and cook thoroughly.

Meanwhile, boil yam and carrots until tender, but not mushy. Remove from heat, drain, and set aside.

Add almond meal, stirring to coat, and then add chicken broth and coconut milk. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in yam, carrots and peas, cooking until peas are frozen.

Transfer mixture to individual ramekins, or pour into one large casserole dish. Set aside while you roll out the pastry.

Cut pastry into as many separate ramekins used for the chicken pot pie, or if making one large pie, roll the whole pastry out.

Press down between two sheets of parchment paper to form a small disk before using the rolling pin to flatten and spread out. As if following the numbers on a clock, roll out facing 12 o'clock first, continuing to 1 o'clock, and travelling around the entire clock rolling out the pastry evenly.

Once the pastry has reached the desired size, peel of one side of the parchment paper and flip onto the pie dish, with chicken pot pie filling already inside. Carefully peel off the remaining layer of parchment, going slowly to limit any tearing of the pastry. Tuck the edges of the pastry underneath itself, pressing down the edges onto the top of the dish. Repeat with remaining dough and ramekins.

In a separate small bowl, beat one egg, and brush it over the top of each pie, covering the pastry. Cut 5 small slits in the top of each pie and on a large baking tray, place the pies in the oven.

Bake between 50 and 60 minutes. Cool before serving.

Enjoy! 

xx S


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