Sunday Comforts

Friday dinners are a time to celebrate, but Sunday dinners are a time to savor.  Sunday dinners are more reflective and more relaxing than the weekend kick off enjoyed a mere 48 hours prior.  I enjoy them not only for their change in pace, but their dictated cuisine.  While Friday evenings are a time for culinary experiments and new dishes, Sunday dinners demand the best in comfort food.  With this thought in mind, I'm sharing a recipe for chicken pot pie.  Remember the chicken pot pie from our childhood?  A gummy crust filled with gray pieces of chicken, mushy vegetables, and a glue-like gravy?  Not today.  This dish brings together your fresh vegetables, cornbread, and roasted chicken all in a savory gravy you will scrape up with your fork.  

Chicken Pot Pie with Cornbread Crust
Recipe created by: Christina Ferrare (Oprah's favorite cook.... other than John Travolta )
Christina's recipe calls for rotisserie chicken, however I like to roast a few chicken breasts that I season, pound thin and slice into generous chunks.  I also prefer to parboil both the potatoes and carrots as fully cooking them runs the risk of mushiness.  Finally, since potatoes are readily available at the Farmers Market, I like to use fresh red or new potatoes with the skin on; the rusticity has never been better suited! 
Filling:
1 TB Olive Oil
1 TB unsalted butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup flour
2 cups chicken stock, heated
2 cups cooked chicken
1/2 cup frozen sweet peas
1 potato, diced and boiled
1 1/2 cup chopped cooked carrots
1/2 tsp salt
Cracked pepepr
Dashes of Tabasco Sauce
Crust:
3/4 cup white or yellow cornmeal (I prefer stoneground)
3/4 cup AP flour
1 TB baking powder
1 1/2 TB sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
2 TB canola oil

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a 2 quart casserole with cooking spray.  In a large sauce pan, heat the olive oil and unsalted butter together. Add onion and saute until tender, about 4 or 5 minutes.  Add in flour until blended.  Slowly stir in 2 cups of heated chicken stock, whisking well. (Note: The chicken stock is the basis for your gravy; I recommend homemade stock or a high quality organic product.)   Cook mixture over medium heat until thickened and bubbly, about 4 minutes.  Stir in chicken, peas, potato, carrots, salt, pepper, and Tabasco.  Pour into the prepared 2 quart casserole.  
2. In a bowl, stir cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.  In a separate bowl, stir milk, egg and canola oil until well combined.  Stir wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Spoon the batter evenly on the filling.  Bake until the top is golden brown 22 to 25 minutes. 

This is the stick to your ribs meal you want on a Sunday afternoon.  Enjoy it with a salad, some good wine and good people and you will go into the new week ready to take on the world.