"PotPie" news and stories

Tonight I made my first pot pie. I've had the inclination a number of times, but never got around to it -- there was always something else that grabbed my interest and tossed the pot pie aside. That certainly won't be happening again because this just about the best thing, aside from soup, for cleaning out your fridge and leftovers. (And it's an absolutely godsend for Thanksgiving, requiring all your leftovers -- turkey, bones for stock, celery, carrots...)

I took the Cheddar Pot Pie with Cheddar Biscuit Crust recipe from Epicurious, adapted the hell out of it so I wouldn't have to go to the store, and went to town. I used whatever vegetables I had laying in my fridge, as well as leftover old cheese and even some previously sauteed mushrooms added to the fresh ones. Once the flour and stock was added, the gravy came together in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, the crust was quite forgiving, without perfectly measured butter, and subbing a lot of water and stock for the buttermilk I didn't have. (I forgot I was almost out of milk.)

You can see the result above. The taste is spot on, and would never make you think it's made from scraps and leftovers.

I've already marvelled at that incredible sausage-covered, deep fried egg called the Scotch egg, and raved about HP Sauce, both of which I encountered at an English pub in Santa Monica, CA, Ye Olde King's Head.

Well here's another first that I loved during my happy hour there: Cornish pastie.

Wait! It's not what you think. It's pronounced "pastie" with a short "a," i.e. it rhymes with "nasty." It most certainly is not one of those tiny, round, nickel-sized stickers that "dancers" use to *ahem* cover up certain parts. The pastie is a type of savory pie, like a pot-pie, but it's held in your hands without the pot. I guess that makes it a hand-pie.