I often think I was born in the wrong era. I would have rocked the 50's housewife scene. That said, there are a few things I think all people that claim to know how to cook should be able to make. And seeing as I am now a stay-at-home-mom (or SAHM, as we like to use in the business), I feel I have no excuse not to have mastered these things. After all, any 50's housewife would know them like the back of her hand. She likely wouldn't be covered in flour, face all sweaty, and hair a hot mess, either. (Only one of those can I blame on my aprons being in storage.)
The list of things I feel one should be able to cook is made up of basics, and stuff most people who like to cook have in their pantry. (It makes me batty when people don't have simple things, like more than 3 cups of flour or a can of tomatoes in their pantry, but that isn't for right now.) It includes: tomato sauce, basic bread (just got this one down! Yay!), a roast, some sort of dish that involves chicken and wine, a vegetable side dish that involves more than simply steaming (and do not douse your veggies in Italian dressing. You get negative points for that. It is gross, and every time you do, Julia Child rolls over in her grave.), chicken stock, chili or beef stew, and a delicious crust.
See that last one? I'm such a slacker.
Unless it is Italian Christmas cookies, pizza bread, or some dish that is simply baked (like baked ziti or chicken parm), I don't bake. I'm afraid to bake. I like to change things and I don't like to read recipes, and those are two things that you absolutely must do if you don't want your baked goods to fail miserably. I have baked some horrific things. But hey, at least I own it.
Dan makes the pies in our house. It is his "thing", and I simply assist. He makes absolutely delicious apple pies. Of all the things one could learn to cook and/or bake, he chose apple pie, and I'm glad he did. I thought I'd never need to make another pie crust again! Nor would I need to buy the kind you get from the refrigerator section! Dan will just make the crust for any given dish, and I will fill it.
And that worked very well for the first five years of our relationship. But today, charged with the request to make pot pie for dinner, I walked the aisles of the grocery store, throwing all the ingredients into my cart and narrating my every move for Baby, I made it to the refrigerated section. Looking at the over-priced ready dough, I had a moment. I knew that if the crust my husband makes so well was more than 6 ingredients, he wouldn't have ever attempted it. I also knew that his pie crusts were so good because of how he made them, not what he made them with. Do I attempt to make crust? (And furthermore, HIS crust, knowing that it likely won't be half as good, and I could potentially mar his crust's good name?) Do I buy the refrigerated stuff, knowing that I really have no excuse to spend that much money on something comprised of flour, shortening, and water, especially now that I am home with a baby who has a nap coming up? Or do I just tell him that we are having baked chicken for dinner? (No, that wasn't really an option.)
Riding on my baking high from successfully making challah, I chose to make the crust. (They'll eat it and they'll like it!) Besides, when you make pie crust, you get to bake the leftover crust and eat it with jam, and isn't that why we make pie crust in the first place? For the jammy scraps?
I used my husband's crust, which is really Peggy Glass's apple pie crust, found in her fantastic cookbook Home-Cooking Sampler. Risking potential disaster and shame, I halved the sugar and folded in cheddar cheese to make it more of a savory crust. (The scraps, eaten without jam, are delicious. Baby approved cheese crust bits.)
Then I made a tried-and-true filling. This makes a bit more than you can fit into an average pie plate sized pie (sorry I can't give you dimensions. I told you pies were Dan's business.) so freeze the rest for a mini pie later, or just make a little more crust and make a mini pie to freeze, unbaked.
You will need:
about (it is a filling, all are approximate)
2lbs of boneless, skinless chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces (I used white meat since people who prefer dark meat will eat white meat, but people who prefer white meat rarely bend, or so it is in our home.)
2 regular sized bags of Birds Eye mixed veggies, defrosted (the ones that have carrots, corn, green beans and peas... or whichever you prefer. )
1 can of Campell's Cream of Celery (10 oz can, condensed. I get the "healthy" one.)
1 "can" of milk (use milk to rinse can from cream of celery)
1/3 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
Saute chicken in a large, non-stick pan. You may need a little bit of oil. When it is mostly cooked through, add cream of celery, milk, and thyme. Deglaze the pan with the soup and milk mix. Let simmer for 10 minutes, or until the sauce thickens enough to coat a spoon. You want it to be thicker than gravy - it is going into a crust. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add in the vegetables, stir to coat, and then set aside to cool.
This is a good time to roll out your crusts. Fill the pie with the chicken and veggies and either freeze, refrigerate (for just an hour or two, but don't leave it out unbaked! The crust will go awry.), or bake at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until crust is done. (Less if on convect, and cover the edges of your crust if they brown too quickly. If frozen, this will take longer and almost certainly need covering, as you want to be sure to heat it through.)
I wouldn't add it to my "mastered" list yet, but at least now pie crust isn't this looming monster. (And I've always wanted to make a latticed pie, so keep your eye out for that!)
