I'm not sure if chicken pot pie qualifies as a true casserole here in the states, but it seems to me that a gourmet french chef should be a lot more willing to experiment more often. what have you been eating over there for the last 35 years?
different folks are assigned different dishes (usually a choice of two or three but always within the same category like beef dish or chicken dish or pasta/meatless dish, etc) and they try to rotate it such that cost is about equalized between the members. i am usually assigned salads and desserts because folks know i don't cook and they are easy things to pickup and i usually do well for them in this regard. but with too many folks away on vacation, i was pressed into entree service and i guess i blew it bad. i'm still hoping to find a worthy store-bought brand, but i'm honestly not having a lot of luck. fact is that i am so sick of trying chicken pot pies right now that i want to scream. but this has become a real mission and i do not give up on missions easily. my honor and reputation are at stake here.
Theo
Theo,
okay I finally think I get this. You were pressed into Entree service and on your own decided that a good chicken dish to bring to a pot luck is chicken pot pie. I can see why you are usually asked to bring salads and deserts
Please don't feel I'm dumping on you just recognizing the facts.
I know you really want to redeem yourself and have dug your heels into bringing in a "good" chicken pot pie but I'm thinking
any chicken pot pie no matter how good/great it is, just doesn't serve up well on a buffet line. Only my opinion your mileage may vary. Is there any way you would entertain other smashing chicken dishes, you walk in with confidence and Viola, set down an outstanding chicken entree. Not a chicken pot pie but a great chicken dish. Chicken Parmesean would probably go over great.
Perhaps you could consider a faux chicken pot pie. Mini ones. I am just making up this recipe- take muffin pans and use aluminum foil muffin cups. Take Pillsbury Flaky Biscuites (if they are round) or any other refridgerated biscuit that is round and says flaky. Roll them out a little bit, try to push down the minimum on the dough to stretch them out to fit in the aluminum foil muffin cups. Bake them at home no earlier than the day before the event, the same day is better. Bake them until they are a light golden brown.
Buy chicken breasts, smash them down on their thick side with a heavy flat object to thin them out. Salt & Pepper them. Take a dinner plate and pour in some flour. Take your salt and peppered chicken breasts and place them in the flour, turn them over and do the other side. Don't worry, a lot of flour is not going to stick on them, that is okay. Big frying pan pour in olive oil. If you really want to hit a home run you use a premium olive oil and heat on medium high heat . Once the oil is hot cook the chicken breasts and be careful not to overcook them. Put the chicken breasts aside and let them cool down.
Next step fresh vegetables, NOT canned. Use fresh carrots, green beans and potatoes. For potatoes I think I would use a new potato you know those really small miniature type potatoes that have a real thin skin. Snap the ends off the green beans, peel the carrots, and just wash the potatos. The carrots take longest to cook, cook them and make sure not to over cook they should be still slightly firm but cooked. Same thing with the potatos and finish with the green beans. After each vegetable is cooked through but a bit firm immedialty remove from stove and pour out the hot water and fill the pot with ice cold water and let the water from the sink continue to over flow the pot. The idea here is you want to stop the cooking and ice the vegetables down. Now we could get fancy here and talk onions and galric etc but I think you will be really happy if you simply use Mrs. Dash the original blend of Mrs. dash.
So now the vegies are iced down and the chicken has cooled to room temperature. Cut your chicken into small bites that will fit in your muffin cups and set aside. Take room temperature regualr butter, not margerin, not whipped butter but old fashioned butter and take about 3 tablespoons and put it in a small dish/bowl. Take flour about around 1/2 to a teaspoon at a time and pour it onto the soft butter and with your fingers work the flour into the butter. Keep adding flour until the butter/flour mixture is crumbly. You have to add in the flour a little bit at a time, mix it in, then add more, mix it in etc. You can't just pour in a lot of flour at once.
Drain the water from your vegetables and cut them into bite sized pieces that will fit in the muffin cups.
Buy chicken flavored gravy but not canned. Buy the kind that come in packets and you add water. Look on the package to see how many cups of gravy you end up with. Then roughly calculate how many muffin cups you are going to fill and figure out how many packets of gravy mix you need to buy.
Make up the gravy in it's own pot. Chances are the gravy is going to be thinner then you want it for chicken pot pie which I think normally has a thick gravy. Boil the gravy and add a little at at time say around a teaspoon at a time the crumbly flour butter mixture you made. It takes a little bit for the thickening to occur so put some in, stir for a minute if it still looks to thin add more and repeat.
Get a big pot the kind you cook spegetti in and using either a premium olive oil or a little butter put it in the pan. If butter about a quarter of a stick if olive oil just pour it in so it covers the bottom of the pan real good. Use medium high or even high heat and put in your chicken, the and the vegetables and shake in a good amount of Original Mrs. Dash. When they are warmed up pour in the gravy and bring it to a boil. Once it boils remove it from the stove.
If it were me I would use the refridgerated biscuits and roll them out (roll them out on a surface you have powdered with flour) a little bit and using a glass that has been floured on the drinking end I would cut out a round cover for my chicken pot pies and pre bake those as well.
Go to the pot luck and bring the precooked biscuits in the aluminum muffin cups bring over the chicken/veggie/gravy mix in that same big pot. At the pot luck simply warm up the chicken/gravy/veggie mix on the stove and warm up the precooked biscuits in the oven when both things are hot spoon in the chicken/gravy mix and cover with the biscuit circle. It will not matter that the cover biscuit is not stuck to the sides like a covered pie. Just place it on top it will look good.
Serve!
Fresh is better but if not possible to do the same day do the day/night before.
If you feel this is to much then i would ask you- Can you clean and boil fresh green beans? Can you peel and cook carrots? Can you boil potatoes? Can you cook chicken breasts? Can you add water to a packaged gravy mix and boil it? Try not to think about the whole thing, just think about each small part and I think you will realize that you can do this. Just cut your veggies pretty small and the chicken pieces a bit larger and have plenty of chicken proportionally compared to the veggies. Also you don't need to have all that much gravy jsut enough to coat things and fill upt he cup. in toher words the cup should hold mostly chicken and veggies and just enough gravy not to much gravy. This is a pretty easy recipe.
French chefs
are creative just not casserol creative, but they do do Cassoulets.
Good Luck on your quest.
