Chicken Pot Pie

I don't recall having chicken pot pie very often at mom and dad's house but we often had Fricaseed Chicken on Toast (i.e., creamed chicken on toast). So my recipe for Chicken Pot Pie essentially builds on that but just adds some pastry to the top of it.

Cook approximately 3 cups cubed chicken (or used leftovers from roast chicken) in a deep frying pan. Add one cup chopped onions and one cup sliced mushrooms. Saute until onions are translucent and mushrooms are reduced in size. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoonfuls of flour and continue to saute for a minute. Sprinkle with half a teaspoon of dried thyme. Add one can of cream of mushroom soup. Stir then add some chicken broth until a thick gravy-like consistency (about half a cup or so). stir in 3/4 of a cup of cooked green peas, and one cup cooked sliced carrots. Let simmer on low for a minute or so, while you are rolling out half a package of tenderflake puffed pastry to fit a 9x9 pan or nice oval casserole dish. Fill casserole with chicken mixture then place pastry on top sealing to the sides of the pan. With a sharp knife make some slits on top of the pastry to let the steam escape. as a final touch to make the pastry shiny beautiful, brush with some beaten egg. Place in a 375degree oven for about 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden and puffy.

Interestingly, every time I serve this to Nathan, he exclaims that he does not like it, then he realizes it is chicken pot pie and dives in saying, "it is his favorite!"

Power to the Potato

After I left home I didn't eat potatoes for about 2 or 3 years.

Why, you ask?

We had potatoes almost every night (okay, maybe every OTHER night) for dinners. Home made French fries, silver dollars, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, potato cakes, shredded potatoes, taters, scalloped potatoes...you name it. I still have to think about working potatoes into my current menus because I have somehow banished them from my mind. They turned into one of those food items that just made me sigh.

This week I found myself tackling one of the staples from our home dinners: Scalloped Potatoes. Mum always did them pretty plain old jane style, because "your father likes them that way". I couldn't resist adding a twist to the dish with capers and hard white cheddar to infuse at least a bit flavour into it.

4 russet potatoes, peeled and sliced
1 large onion, sliced and then quartered
2 heaping tbsp flour with S&P for seasoning
2 tbsp butter or margarine
milk (skim OK and then finish off with cream!)

Butter casserole dish with 1 tbsp butter. Put a layer of potatoes, then layer of onions, sprinkle with 1 tbsp of flour mixture. Do another layer of potatoes, then layer of onions, and sprinkle with remaining flour mixture. Top off with one thin layers of potatoes. Dot with butter. Add milk almost to top level, but not quite.

Cover and microwave on high for 15-20 mins. You could also bake at 375 for 45-60 mins. Watch out for bubbling over. It makes a generous amount (serves about 6).


For a twist, I added a wee bit of dried thyme flakes to the flour mixture, a few capers and about ½ a cup of sharp white cheddar cheese in the onion layers. It was fabulous. Great texture, flavourful, and quite easy to make. It probably helped that I had my Rotato Express :-)

It's definitely nice to get to know this dish the second time around. Power to the potato.

Frisper by Oliso, keeping things fresh and crispy

Meet my Frisper:

(image courtesy of www.oliso.com)

He is new to my kitchen implements and is keeping things fresh and crispy by vacuum sealing various food items at Chez Haney. I bought it this summer at the market at Vancouver’s exhibition. It was an impromptu purchase because we saw it, liked it, and then because it was the end of the night, haggled the guy to see what else he could do to “incentivize” the purchase (we got an extra set of bags).

The great thing about the frisper is that it packs a lot of punch in terms of power, it’s super easy to use, and it’s small, about the size of my outstretched hand. The bags that come with it are easy to clean (dishwasher safe) and reusable up to about 20 times or more each.

I have frispered (yes, it has been verbed) a lot of things like coffee, nuts, and shrimp – the latter which seem to get freezer burned quite easily when they are left loose in the bag.

It’s a good Christmas 2009 gift for the foodies out there!

Christmas Cocktail 2009

I know it’s early, BUT…

Do you fancy a cocktail for Christmas that is warm in essence but hot in the flavor department?

Vanilla vodka (try Smirnoff), ginger ale (try Canada Dry), and some pomegranate seeds for garnish (one could also use cranberries).

It’s a cousin to the "Snadra Special" summer concoction comprised of vanilla vodka and coke.

Deck the halls!

Voodoo Doughnut Burger in Portland

Read more details on it here or here. Would you do it?

I ♥ Portland Restaurants

Husband and I went on a road trip to California this fall. On our way back up to Canada we stopped in Portland and we happily surrendered to the food mecca that it is. I had never been even though it is only a few hours away from Vancouver. It's pretty cool. Do they ever know how to eat! And drink! (their happy hours put Vancouver’s to shame)

Some highlights were:

The Original – a “dinerant” where husband ate a peanut butter and jam Monte Cristo and I had a fried bologna sandwich served with carmelized onions, mortadella and smoked gouda (drool). They also feature a burger served on a doughnut (yes, you read that correctly). Neither of us dared to do it. Intriguing, but a little gaggy. They also serve homemade pop tarts during happy hour for $1. HELLO?!? Please come to Vancouver.

Pazzo – We were skeptical because it would appear to be a popular tourist Italian joint on a main drag, but I had THE MOST terrific roasted beet insalata with cucumber with a marscapone horseradish dressing. This salad by far surpassed any salad that I have had at a restaurant. My pasta: amazing. Fabulous service. Plus, the portions were healthy.

The Saucebox – Killer happy hour where an eclectic range of asian-fusion eats could be had for only mere dollars a dish with amazing cocktails to boot.

Departure Restaurant and Lounge – Crave sushi? Crave hot people and good views? I give this an honorable mention, because we just went here for a late night snack and drinks. It is located at the top of the luxurious hotel we indulged in called the Nines.

Byways Café – A solid breakfast diner. Need I say more?