Tandoori Chicken Pot Pie

I plan my meals way, way too far in advance. My only consolation is that every once in awhile, too much thinking about food pays off. In this case, two plans collided to create an interesting new variation. On the one hand, I decided to make chicken pot pie on Friday. That meant picking up some chicken. On the other hand, I visited an Indian restaurant and left with some leftover chicken tikka. Eventually, these two ideas combined: I didn't have to buy more chicken, nor did I have to freeze the chicken tikka for some unspecified future meal. I could put the two together.

Here is the filling just before I topped it with the crust. I made a roux using some chicken broth I had canned a few months ago along with some cream and milk. I added as vegetables onion, a diced potato, some diamond-cut carrots, mushrooms, and some frozen mixed vegetables. At the last minute I added the chicken tikka. I added the usual chicken herbs.

Here it is just out of the oven.

And here is my portion ready to eat. I wasn't sure if the tikka flavor would come through but it certainly did. I am very happy with the cross-cultural combination. One could clearly make an Indian chicken pot pie with all sorts of interesting spices; I might just do that soon. But the tikka also enriches a traditional American hearty meal, too.

Comments

Eating Around Georgia Tech: Ecco

Our Texas Instruments colleague Cathy Wicks was gracious enough to host several of us at Ecco tonight. This is one of those restaurants that has been on my list for a long time. Even though it is within easy walking distance of Georgia Tech, I hadn't made it there until tonight. The menu is a combination of Italian, Spanish, and French that make use of some local Georgia ingredients. The combination of those three countries is sometimes a little forced, although the georgia ingredients (fruit, cheese) were all great and perfectly appropriate. We started out with a meat and cheese board. This actually reverses the French tradition, where cheese usually follows the main course. Everything was excellent. The Georgia cheese was a big hit, as was the French cow/goat cheese. I thought the sauscisson was very subtle and very good. The waitress said that the roast pork pasta was their signature dish, so I had to try it. It had traditional broad pasta (fresh, of course) ...

DCA: Cava Mezze Grill

Cava is a DC area chain with light Mediterranean food. Saibal encouraged me to try lunch at their airport location and I was very happy with the experience. I ordered falafel on SuperSalad with assorted other toppings. The falafel was tasty. The SuperSalad was light, flavorful, and very easy to eat. Overall, a healthy and enjoyable lunch, something you can't always say about airport eating.

Pressure Cooker Candied Ginger

I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b...

Atlanta etc.: Marilyn Wolf's Food Blog and Restaurant Blog

Search This Blog