australia is a strange place. strange for many, many reasons. for one, the internet is slow and expensive. for a first world nation i find this very strange, and occasionally downright irritating. however, that’s not why this site exists- it’s all about the food. yes, they have food in australia, and yes, it is strange.
a couple of weeks ago, in my usual haste to get to work, i forgot to make myself lunch. i realized my folly by the time i got to the train station, and by then it was too late to do anything about it. i decided to bite the bullet and get something on campus.
when lunchtime rolled around i made my way to the cafeteria and looked for something that wasn’t over $5. that’s quite hard to do here. most prepared meals are pretty expensive; meat pies are not. i saw them sitting in their little glass-encased warmer, and at $4.00 I couldn’t pass them up. i had my choice of pepper steak or chicken and vegetables. i like my veggies, so i went with the latter.
a very standard lunch item in australia
i took my little pie to the quad (or court, as they call it here) and realized i had no utensils. but then i thought the thing was so small it seemed kind of dumb to cut it, so i just took a bite.
a very standard lunch item in australia...
that was underwhelming to say the least. tons of boring gravy, hardly any vegetables to speak of, at least crust was very flaky.
$4 wasted… i knew i could do better. and i did:
now that's a chicken and vegetable pot pie!
how’d i do it, you ask? let me tell you
chicken pot pie
crust
125g cold butter, cut into pieces
245g ap flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2c ice water
chicken velouté (or gravy, if you will)
2 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
56g (1/4c) butter
35g (1/4c) ap flour
2 cups warm chicken stock (use the low sodium version, or better yet homemade)
1/2 cup warm milk
salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
filling
1 large cooked and seasoned (any way you like) chicken breast, or any other chicken pieces you desire, chopped
~4 cups raw (frozen is okay) veggies. i used broccoli, carrots, corn, peas, and green beans
—
1 egg lightly beaten with 2 tbsp milk.
assembly
heat the oven to 350F
crust
mix the flour, salt and sugar. using a pastry blender, or your hands (which is what i do), or if you are lucky enough to not have recently moved 12000 miles- a food processor to cut the butter into the flour until pea-sized bits of butter are mixed in with the flour. add 1/4cup of the water and mix. then slowly add the rest of the water until the dough just comes together. press into a disc and roll out on a well-floured surface.
** the pie crust above is only enough for the top. if you desire a bottom crust, then double the recipe
filling
sauté the onions and celery in 2tbsp butter, in a saucepan, until softened. add the 1/4 cup of butter and flour to the pan and continuously stir for about 2 minutes. add the stock and milk and whisk until the mixture is boiling and thick. season with salt and pepper.
mix the veggies, chicken and gravy in a pie pan. place the crust on top. brush with egg wash.
place the pie pan on a foil-lined cookie sheet and bake for about 1 hour, or until the crust is completely golden brown.
let stand 10 minutes before serving.
