IN GOOD
TASTE
The people, places, and
designs that influence
every day of our lives.
Taste
FOOD
By Sarene Wallace
Finding Potpies Locally
Is Easy as Potpie
Comfort with
a Crust
The beloved potpie from childhood still pleases diners.
Potpies are comfort food perfected. From the flaky crust outside to the tender,
bite-size pieces of meat and veggies bathed in a gravy or cream sauce inside, potpies
never fail to make diners feel warm and toasty.
“When you surround a really yummy filling with really great crust, you can’t go
wrong,” says potpie fan Hana Miller, co-owner of Simply Pies (simplypiessb.com) in
Santa Barbara. Miller added three potpies (made with locally sourced ingredients) to
the menu at customers’ requests.
Home cooks can play with serving sizes and ingredient combinations just like the
pros. Try swapping regular chicken with smoked, or experiment with turkey, beef,
ham, or lamb. Mix in pancetta or bacon to give this one-dish dinner a smoky richness.
For a Cadillac version, mix braised vegetables with black truffles, portobello mushrooms, and Maine lobster tails in a sauce of brandy, cream, and lobster stock. This is
how executive chef Peter Edwards does it at the Watermark on Main (watermarkon
main.com) in Ventura, and his finishing touch is a drizzle of white truffle oil (visit
805living.com for the recipe).
Skip the meat and go all-vegetable with potatoes, carrots, peas, onions, and corn to
follow Simply Pies’ lead. At Metropulos Fine Foods Merchant (metrofinefoods.com) in
Santa Barbara, the house-made vegetable potpies include warming lentils and chickpeas with Yukon Gold potatoes, zucchini, carrots, peas, parsley, and onions.
Time-challenged cooks can shave prep time with a store-bought, refrigerated
crust. If using a homemade crust, consider spiking it with cheese or bacon (or both).
Herbes de Provence, rosemary, garlic, curry, or chile powders pump up the crust’s
flavor and can also season the filling. Or top the potpie with phyllo dough or puff
pastry for a change.
Elinor Klivans, who wrote the paean Potpies: Yumminess in a Dish (Chronicle Books,
2006; chroniclebooks.com), stretched the category with non-traditional potpie recipes
to appeal to a wide range of tastes, ages, and occasions. She included recipes as varied
as individual Shrimp Scampi Potpies with a panko crust (visit 805living.com for the
recipe) and Black Bean Chili Potpie with Onion and Pepper Corn Bread Topping.
These days, Klivans enjoys making potpies in individual serving sizes. “Everyone
gets their own potpie, which is fun,” she says. She uses bowls with a 2- to 3-cup capacity, small ceramic pudding cups, or small soufflé dishes (4- to 5-ounce sizes) and serves
a medley of different ingredient combinations.
“I just love the warm comfort of potpies in the cool season, but I make potpies all
year long,” Klivans says. “There really are potpies to fit every season.”
68 m a r c h 2 011 805LIVING.COM
At Simply Pies (simplypiessb.com) in
Santa Barbara, customers can choose
from locally sourced, organic vegetable,
organic chicken, and local grass-fed beef
varieties; each is available as a singleserving or family-size (serves 6 to 7) pie and
can be prepared with gluten-free crust.
Angela Pettera, 805 Living’s dining editor,
calls the chicken potpie from The Grill
on the Alley (thegrill.com) in Westlake
Village “the best chicken potpie I’ve had.”
Chef John Sola created the signature
dish—big enough to share, with darkmeat chicken, carrots, onions, peas, and
mushrooms in a béchamel sauce and
topped with a puff pastry crust. A smaller
version is available during happy hour.
At The Lazy Dog Café (lazydogcafe.com)
in Thousand Oaks, the chicken potpie is
served in a wide, shallow casserole dish
so there’s an ideal crust-to-filling ratio.
The chicken breast is roasted and handshredded, then matched with carrots,
onions, mushrooms, peas, and celery in a
velouté (thickened chicken-stock base).
Metropulos Fine Foods Merchant
(metrofinefoods.com) in Santa Barbara
freezes chicken, beef stew, and vegetable
potpies for customers to take home and
serve fresh from the oven. Underneath
the butter puff-pastry crust, the beef stew
includes potatoes, tomatoes, onions,
garlic, red and green peppers, carrots,
dried apricots, sherry, brown sugar, and
cinnamon. Curried chicken potpies are
available now for spring pickup and include
chickpeas, dried ginger, apples, dried
apricots, Yukon Gold potatoes, and turmeric.
>>
SCOTT PETERSON
With endless combinations of crusts
and fillings, potpies inspire delicious
creativity. In Potpies: Yumminess in a
Dish, Elinor Klivans shares recipes for
a classic chicken potpie (shown here),
Springtime Vegetable Potpie with a
cream cheese crust (recipe on next
page), and Shrimp Scampi Potpies with
a panko crust (recipe at 805living.com).
>>Taste
FOOD
Recipes
SPRINGTIME VEGETABLE POTPIE
Recipe comes courtesy of the seminal cookbook,
Potpies: Yumminess in a Dish by Elinor Klivans
(Chronicle, 2006; chroniclebooks.com).
Sauce:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups vegetable broth
Filling:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 medium onions; 1 halved and thinly
sliced, and 1 coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ pound new or red-skinned potatoes,
peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces
2 carrots, thinly sliced crosswise
2 ounces green beans (a handful), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 9-ounce package thawed frozen artichoke
hearts
2 cups thawed frozen green peas
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Surefire Cream Cheese Crust (recipe
at right)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
70 m a r c h 2 011 805LIVING.COM
1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven.
Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Have ready a baking
dish with an 8-cup capacity.
2. Make the sauce: In a medium saucepan,
melt the butter over low heat. As soon as the
butter melts, add the flour and increase the
heat to medium. Using a wooden spoon and
stirring constantly, cook the butter and flour
until it is bubbling and just beginning to become
slightly golden, about 1 minute. Using a whisk
and whisking constantly, slowly pour in the
vegetable broth. Keep whisking until the sauce
is smooth. Bring to a gentle boil, adjusting the
heat as necessary, and cook for 5 minutes. The
sauce will thicken slightly to the consistency of
thick syrup. Set aside while you cook the onions.
3. Make the filling: In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the sliced and chopped
onion and garlic and cook until the onions soften,
about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the onion
mixture to the pan with the sauce. Stir in the
potatoes, carrots, green beans, artichoke hearts,
peas, lemon zest, lemon juice, parsley, and dill.
Return the saucepan to medium heat and cook for
about 10 minutes, adjusting the heat to keep the
liquid at a gentle boil until the potatoes and carrots
are soft, stirring often. Remove the saucepan from
the heat and taste for salt and pepper. Transfer the
filling to the baking dish, letting it cool for about
15 minutes while you roll the crust.
4. Lightly flour the rolling surface and rolling
pin. Roll the crust dough to a shape that is 1 inch
larger than the top of the baking dish. Roll the
crust around the rolling pin and unroll it over
the top of the baking dish. Fold ½ inch of the
edge of the crust under to form a smooth edge.
Use your thumb and forefinger to pinch the edge
into a fluted or scalloped pattern around the edge
of the dish while pressing it firmly onto the rim.
Use a pastry brush to brush the top lightly with
water then sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
Cut four 2-inch-long slits in the top of the crust to
release steam while the potpie bakes.
5. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until the crust is
lightly browned. Let rest for 5 minutes, then use
a large spoon to cut through the crust and scoop
out servings of crust and filling.
Makes 6 servings.
SUREFIRE CREAM CHEESE CRUST
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, as
room temperature
3 ounces cold cream cheese, cut into
3 pieces
Sift the flour and salt together into a small
bowl and set aside. In a large bowl and using an
electric mixer on low speed, beat the butter and
cream cheese until smoothly blended, about
45 seconds. Mix in the flour mixture until the dough holds together
and forms large clumps that come away from the sides of the bowl,
about 30 seconds.
Or, use a large spoon to stir the butter and cream cheese together until
smoothly blended, then add the flour and salt and continue stirring until
clumps of smooth dough form.
Form the dough into a smooth ball, flatten it into a 6-inch disk, wrap
it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes or as long as overnight.
The dough is now ready to roll and use in the recipes.
CHICKEN POTPIE
This recipe comes courtesy of the MasterChef Cookbook by JoAnn
Cianciulli (Rodale Books, 2010; rodale.com). “If you’re pressed
for time, skip the first step of boiling the chicken and buy a whole
rotisserie chicken and a quart of good, low-sodium canned chicken
broth at the grocery store,” writes Cianciulli. You’ll need 4 small
crocks or 2-cup ramekins to make these individual potpies.
1 2½-pound whole chicken
1 teaspoon salt
3 carrots, diced, trimmings reserved
2 celery stalks, diced, trimmings reserved
1 small onion, diced, trimmings reserved
¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 large potato, peeled, diced, and cooked (about 2 cups)
¾ cup frozen sweet peas, thawed
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 frozen puff pastry sheet, thawed
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Put the chicken in a large stockpot and cover with ½ gallon of cool water.
Add the salt and carrot, celery, and onion trimmings. Bring up to a boil
over medium-high heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes, or until the
chicken is just cooked through, skimming frequently as the oil rises to the
surface. Remove the chicken to a cutting board to cool. Continue to cook
down the chicken broth for 10 minutes longer to condense the flavor,
until it’s reduced to 4 cups.
Strain the chicken broth into a large bowl or measuring cup and
discard the vegetable solids. Set the broth aside. When cool enough to
handle, shred the chicken meat into bite-size pieces. Discard the skin and
bones. Transfer the chicken to a large bowl.
Preheat the oven to 400˚F.
In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Add
the carrots, celery, and onion, and season with salt and pepper. Cook and
stir for 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Sprinkle the vegetables with the flour. Cook and stir until the flour dissolves.
Gradually whisk in the reserved chicken broth, stirring to prevent
lumps. Simmer and whisk for 10 minutes, or until the sauce starts to
thicken. It should look like cream of chicken soup.
Mix in the potatoes, peas, parsley, and shredded chicken. Season again
with salt and pepper. Simmer for 1 or 2 minutes, stirring, until all the
ingredients are well-combined. Remove from the heat.
Lay the puff pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface and roll out
slightly. Cut the pastry into four squares.
Fill the crocks or 2-cup ramekins with the chicken mixture. Cap each
with a pastry square, pressing the dough around the rim to form a seal.
Lightly beat the egg with 1 tablespoon of water to make an egg wash and
brush on the pastry. Set individual pies on a baking pan and transfer to
the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed and golden.
Serves 4. 
All recipes reprinted verbatim with permission from the author and/or publisher.